


Phenomenist

by stormy1990



Category: A.B.C.-Z, Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment, Johnny's Jr., Johnny's WEST, KAT-TUN (Band), Kis-My-Ft2 (Band), NewS (Band), SixTONES (Band)
Genre: Character Death, M/M, side pairing: FumaKen, side-pairing: Abe Aran/Kishi Yuta, side-pairing: TegoMass, side-pairings (changing)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-16 19:20:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 48
Words: 110,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5837824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormy1990/pseuds/stormy1990
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Word War III has left the world in chaos and fear with a new kind of mutation dividing one nation into two fractions, with almost no hope for them to coexist. But what seemed to be a frightening curse at first might be the only hope to finally bring peace back to their lives and with two of each kind finding together the last battle was about to begin!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Movements

**Author's Note:**

> Small explanation of how this fic works:  
> -it's a long-term fic and I write around 2K for each chapter  
> -nothing is planned (and I really mean it, I started with just one small idea!), so if something doesn't make sense in between I'm sorry then I forgot about sth myself, bc I'm writing this for over 2 years already and sometimes details get lost^^"  
> -it's still ungoing so there might be more characters appearing later  
> -there are a lot of characters involved, but please be aware that:  
> 1\. no one is safe  
> 2\. there are lot of characters I needed to be just a guest appearance and/or out of character  
> 3\. some characters listed above will appear quite late in the story  
> -until now this fic has about 50 chapters and there are more to follow (not sure how many though), so be aware of a loooong story if you start reading  
> -if you don't like reading about sth reminding you of WW II in Japan, please don't read this fic(!)  
> -oh and a big fat sorry for wiping out the whole female population I know it is a little bit radical, but like this I saved myself the trouble of needing even more side characters :P
> 
> Okay so if this still didn't stop you, then I hope you'll have fun reading, but be aware of logical and grammatical mistakes! (^_^)y

 

** Chapter 1 **

 

Two years had passed since world war 3 destroyed most parts of Asia. Korea did more or less not exist anymore, the Philippines had gone under a huge tsunami and Japan would never be the same again. A new weapon, a new type of atomic bomb had changed the lives of all Japanese people in the matter of seconds. First no one realized it believing that it was just another dark chapter in their past which they could just ignore and forget over the years and start over like they did all the time. But then it started. First it were just a few, but after a few months a always growing number of the Japanese civilization which lived through WWIII started to change. They changed into something unknown, something no one could or at least didn’t want to explain. Did you ever see a taifun coming, because a child was crying over his dead mother? Or a volcano erupting, because the hate against the ones which threw the bomb, which destroyed their future was just too huge to bear anymore? Snow falling in midsummer, because a father had lost his beloved family? No? From that moment on when the bomb had reached its goal you could see all this. Emotions which would cause many different natural phenomena.

The deeper the emotion of the person the bigger the natural phenomena. Those powers were new and unknown of the rest of the world. Out of fear that the world could try to extinguish Japan completely this time the Japanese civilization locked themselves up on their small island and started what they thought would be the only way to rescue what was left of their beautiful country: They searched for the so called phenomenists and killed them.

The bomb was causing cell destruction, but while the X-chromosome was destroyed completely causing all women of the country to die after just the first few days, the Y-chromosome reacted different. For those who stayed human the Y-chromosome just replaced the X, but for those who changed into phenomenist the X-chromosome was replaced by whatever this bomb had carried and changed their DNA.

For almost two years the humans, realitists as they called themselves, continued killing every phenomenist they could find. But there were those who tried to help them, the ones which wanted to accept them, because they were part of their family or friends they have known for long enough to know that they were no monsters.

To the realitists those people were a bother, so they decided to establish a rule which would forbid any connection to the phenomenists. If they even tried to help them flee the city or hide them it would be the death penalty awaiting them.

This is where this story about brotherhood, true friendship and even deeper feelings started.

\---

The earth started shaking around them and Nikaido knew that he had to calm down his younger brother or he would be discovered and that would be the death for both of them.

“Kentaro, please you have to calm down.” He pulled him into a tight hug looking worried back to the main street where he could still hear the shouting from the realitists’ protection squad which was following them around.

“He must be around here! The boy said that the fire of his lighter went up like 2 meters when the other boy got angry. He is definitely a phenomenist.”

“How about you ask this other stupid boy what made my brother so angry, before chasing after him and leaving the guilty one behind.” Nikaido groaned to himself when he felt how Kentaro grabbed his sleeves and his fists started shaking while the earth beyond them finally stopped moving.

“Thank you Nii-san for worrying for me and always taking care of me. I’m so sorry that I always cause so many problems!”

Nikaido wanted to reply something, but then a rain drop stroke his cheek and several followed when he looked up. It had been clear and sunny weather the whole day, there was just one explanation for this abrupt change of weather. He let go of Kentaro to take his face into his hands and lift it up. Tears were running down his cheeks and Kentaro tried hard to suppress his sobs when his brother looked at him worried.

“I don’t like rain Kentaro,” he said smiling knowing that he would get the message. Kentaro smiled back, short and not really comforting, but at least the rain got less and stopped completely after another moment.

“Nii-san…” Before he could continue he fell over right into his brother’s arms. Some people must have thought all the time that it was great to have such powers, but that was just until they learned how dangerous they were.

The phenomenists tried a counterattack at the realitists several times already, but then one after the other died without the realitists doing anything. The cause? Exhaustion! The DNA had changed so much that they could control natural powers, but this change was not just for good. If used too much it would cause self-destruction. Knowing that, Nikaido tried hard to keep his little brother away from everything that could make him feel too excited in any kind of way. The only thing that somehow made them stronger was when they had positive emotions, it kind of charged their powers. But how could he feel good and carefree in a world like this where everyone tried to kill him just because he was different without even wanting it.

Nikaido lifted him up and carried him home, sneaking through the backstreets until he reached the small forest next to the protection fence. Their so called home was not more than an old half destroyed temple in the forest. With Tokyo being completely destroyed they had built something like a new capital near the mountains in Saitama. Living in the region of the realitists while having a phenomenist as a brother was dangerous and because Kentaro was kind of hyper emotional Nikaido tried to keep him away from all the people as much as possible. He had thought about running away with him several times, but the area around Osaka was completely destroyed and no one really knew what was left in the north, because they were too afraid to walk up their knowing that most of the phenomenists had fled northwards. Now a few patrols went up there from time to time, but not all of them came back. And Nikaido knew that if he would fail, death was all that awaited them. Also fleeing the city was not as easy as it sounded. Huge fences and many guards were protecting its boundaries.

But it seemed like he had reached his limits. Carrying his exhausted brother back home again was hard to bear. How could people try to kill him just because he had changed through the fault of the hate between the humans? It wasn’t his fault nor was it his choice. He had been a really happy and cheerful boy before, when they could walk outside through the city not having to be scared to be seen by any patrols. That was also why the temple was surrounded by beautiful flowers, the sound of tweeting birds and a sparkling river. Here was the last place where Kentaro felt safe and thanks to his brother’s care he was able to smile and be carefree around here. This was a place to give him strength, but they never knew for how long it would last.

“What will we do, if they find this place?” Nikaido said to himself as they arrived in front of their beautiful home. “What will happen, if you lose this place, if you lose me?” Nikaido looked at Kentaro whom he still held in his arms.

“Nii-san, please never leave me alone.” Kentaro had spoken in his sleep, but somehow it had triggered something inside Nikaido. The courage to take the next step. He tightened his grip on Kentaro and turned his back at their home and with this he promised both of them to leave their old life behind and find a way and a place to obtain a happy and safe life for both of them on all costs.

“Either we make it or we won’t make it. But whatever happens, we will be together.” When Nikaido looked around him he saw how a few flowers started blooming around them, but there was also a strong wind blowing. Kentaro seemed to have heard him and was definitely full of hope that his plan would work, but also full of worry that something could happen to them.

***

“You are so pathetic!”

No reaction.

“You can do nothing right, how about you just leave all of us alone? We don't need someone like you.”

Still everything fine.

“You are even worse than the realitists! They should kill you it would be for the best!”

A small flinch, two clenched fists, that was too much to bear if it came out of the mouth of your own little brother.

A small earthquake, nothing big just big enough for everyone around to notice.

“This is all you got? And you think you can protect me? I should join sides with the realitists and kill you myself. I will be much safer on their side.”

“Enough!” He made just a small movement with his hand and a huge crack appeared dividing the ground almost making his little brother disappears inside of it as someone just dragged him away from the crack in time.

“TAIGA!” Fujigaya’s eyes went wide in shock when he realized that he was about to kill his little brother. He rushed over to him scanning him with his eyes while holding on to his shoulders.

“Taisuke I’m fine calm down! Everything is okay.” Taiga said calmly.

“No it’s not okay, I almost hurt you.”

“You will hurt all of us when you don’t calm down.” Taiga said worried pointing behind his older brother which looked behind himself in shock as a big twister approached them.

“Woah, where did that came from?” He shouted looking at the other people around them before getting a slap on the back of his head from Taiga.

“It came from you, idiot! Don’t be so overprotective about me then something like this won’t happen. I just screamed every bad thing I could imagine at you and you still want to protect me?”

“But that was just practice and I almost hurt you!”

“That was the reason why we did it, right? This is combat training or why do you think all the people are standing around here with weapons and stuff?”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean that I have the right to put you in danger!”

The twister grew bigger and moved to their direction. Taiga looked at it over Fujigaya’s shoulder worried. The wind grew already so strong that it was hard to understand each other.

“That was my own choice! You have no control over your emotions, just when you feel anger it’s so hard to get anything happening. If we can find out how, we can maybe help the others to control their powers better as well!”

“But still-“

“No but! No still! No nothing!” Taiga made a step forward hugging his older brother close. “I don’t want to lose you, I don’t want to lose anyone ever again and when that means to take some risk helping the realitists understand about you and the others I will happily take it!”

Fujigaya put his arms around Taiga squeezing him. Taiga could feel how he was shivering against him.

“I won’t leave you. As long as we are together nothing will happen.” Taiga promised comforting, tightening his grip around his brother when the wind of the twister was already so strong that it was hard to remain on the same spot and not getting blown away. He closed his eyes for a moment, waiting for the wind to lift them of the ground, but then the wind disappeared and a heavy weight rested on his shoulders making him bend his knees in surprise. When he opened his eyes again the twister was gone.

“Taisuke? Hey Taisuke wake up!”

“Your brother was as expected too overemotional about you again!” A familiar voice said next to them before lifting Fujigaya off his little brother and put him carefully to the ground.

“Thank you Wataru!”

Wataru was the best friend of Fujigaya and was as Taiga a normal human, but on the side of the phenomenists. For him it didn’t matter what power his best friend had gotten and how dangerous it could be, he was still the same! It was the same for Taiga, they were brothers and he didn’t care what others said, he would never leave his side.

“Sometimes I wonder if we really should be afraid of him killing someone because of anger or if it isn’t even scarier that he might kill himself by accident, because he is so worried about you."

"We could write on his gravestone ‘died because of overprotectiveness’ then.” Taiga said teasing making Wataru smile and pat Taiga’s shoulder before standing up again ordering a few other people, most of them phenomenists, to end the training for today.

Taiga chuckled a little bit at Wataru’s carrying attitude. He was maybe the best friend of his brother, but for him he was like another older brother. Without him it would have been even harder to get his brother’s overemotional side under control. The only thing they really could be happy about was that his anger was kind of not reacting to the nature around him. At least not anymore, but Taiga didn’t want to think about the past too much.

He let Wataru and the others carry him back home, telling them he needed a moment for himself. But not wanting his brother to wake up and worrying over him again, he asked Wataru the favor to tell his brother that he was with Hokuto when he would wake up, so he wouldn't destroy the house out of his emotional overreaction of his brother wandering around alone.

“Okay, but promise to stay around the border or Taisuke will completely freak out if something happens to you.”

“Don’t worry, I will be back in about an hour or two.”

Taiga needed those strolls through the forests of the northern part of Honshu where the most phenomenists were hiding. It was near Fukushima making this location an even better hiding place, with most of the realitists not daring to come here and search for them.

But there were people which would take any route if it would take them away from the city as far as possible.

 

 

 

 


	2. Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Word War III has left the world in chaos and fear with a new kind of mutation dividing one nation into two fractions, with almost no hope for them to coexist. But what seemed to be a frightening curse at first might be the only hope to finally bring peace back to their lives and with two of each kind finding together the last battle was about to begin!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small explanation of how this fic works:  
> -it's a long-term fic and I write around 2K for each chapter  
> -nothing is planned (and I really mean it, I started with just one small idea!), so if something doesn't make sense in between I'm sorry then I forgot about sth myself, bc I'm writing this for over 2 years already and sometimes details get lost^^"  
> -it's still ungoing so there might be more characters appearing later  
> -there are a lot of characters involved, but please be aware that:  
> 1\. no one is safe  
> 2\. there are lot of characters I needed to be just a guest appearance and/or out of character  
> 3\. some characters listed above will appear quite late in the story  
> -until now this fic has about 50 chapters and there are more to follow (not sure how many though), so be aware of a loooong story if you start reading  
> -if you don't like reading about sth reminding you of WW II in Japan, please don't read this fic(!)  
> -oh and a big fat sorry for wiping out the whole female population I know it is a little bit radical, but like this I saved myself the trouble to need even more side characters :P
> 
> Okay so if this still didn't stop you, then I hope you'll have fun reading, but be aware of logical and grammatical mistakes! (^_^)y

 

** **

 

“Nii-san you really should take a break!”

“No it’s fine, don’t worry. If we stop here we are still too near to the border!” It has been already two days since they had left the city,  but Nikaido didn't want to risk anything. It was hard enough to sneak out of one of the gates without anyone noticing, but at least it was easier to get out than to get in again and hopefully they never had to do that.

“Then let me walk by myself at least!” Kentaro demanded trying to get off his brother’s back.

“No I won’t let you walk by yourself yet. You just woke up, you are still too weak to walk.” Nikaido just tightened his grip around his legs continuing to walk along the small forest path away from the city and with that the center of the realitists. Until the begin of the second day Kentaro had been asleep and Nikaido had just taken a few small breaks in between too afraid to take a long rest. But suddenly a small root lifted itself from the ground out of nowhere and made Nikaido stumble so that Kentaro took the chance to jump off his back.

“Hey, that wasn’t fair!”

“See I’m fine!” He said teasing before sticking out his tongue towards him.

“Don’t go too far, Kentaro!” Nikaido demanded when Kentaro started rushing through the forest, obviously relieved about leaving the city and all the bad memories behind. A few flowers were blooming next to him and thanks to them his brother relaxed a little bit knowing that he finally felt safe and happy again. And as a good side effect he couldn’t lose track of him, it felt like a fairytale were you just follow the nice path of flowers and everything would be fine. Nikaido smiled to himself while trying to not fall behind too much.

“NII-SAN!” On Kentaro’s panicked voice his brother woke up from his daydreams after he had followed his little brother through the forest for so long that he had lost track of time. He looked around him, but couldn’t see him. When he looked at the flowers wanting to follow them he worried even more seeing that they had all withered in matters of seconds.

“KENTARO! Where are you?” He started running after him, following the path of withered flowers until he finally saw him hiding behind a tree looking kind of panicked.

“What happened?” Nikaido stopped right next to him. He didn’t seem hurt, but he was breathing hard.

“Someone saw me! Someone saw how I created the flowers!” He grabbed his brother’s shirt while his eyes filled up with tears.

“Calm down, it’s alright!” The first thunder roared over them.

“I already messed everything up again. Like this we won’t find a place to stay!” The first raindrops fell down, when his first tear ran down his cheek. Nikaido pulled him into his arms and stroke over his hair trying to calm him down.

“It’s alright. Don’t worry it will be alright!”

“Ehm…sorry!?”

On the sound of an unfamiliar voice Nikaido flinched and looked up ready to attack whoever the person was who had seen them. But when his sight fell on a boy even younger than his brother he relaxed a little bit. The boy held up his hands when Nikaido shoved his little brother behind him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” The boy said apologizing stepping back on Nikaido’s reaction.

“Who are you?” Nikaido asked curious while trying to find out if the boy was dangerous or not. “Are you alone?”

“My name is Taiga and yes I’m alone.” Taiga paused for a moment as if he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to tell them that he was alone in the first place, but then he looked up with a smile before continuing. “I’m living around an hour northwards from here. I was on a walk when I lost track of time and must have walked a little bit too far.”

“What are you?” Nikaido asked right away knowing that the boy would get the meaning of his question.

“A human, but don’t worry I’m not a realitist. I’m living with other humans and phenomenists in a small village. My own brother is a phenomenist.” He explained in a calm voice before looking behind Nikaido facing Kentaro. “So don’t worry just because I saw your powers. By the way the flowers were really beautiful.”

The rain stopped and Kentaro took a step forward looking at Taiga a little bit ashamed.

“I’m sorry!”

“For what?” Taiga asked confused and also Nikaido raised an eyebrow on that.

“For judging you before knowing you. I should know the best how that feels.” Kentaro bowed a little bit to Taiga now standing next to his brother holding on to his arm.

“Don’t worry about it! Where are you going if I may ask?”

Nikaido tensed a little bit on that question. Sure the boy didn’t seem dangerous, but that still didn’t convince him completely that he could trust him like that.

“I mean when you want to go northwards I can bring you at least to my village for now. Then you have somewhere to rest and eat.”

Now that he mentioned it Nikaido realized that he didn’t take anything with him. The only thing he carried with him was a knife hidden in his jacket. If you wanted to ‘buy’ something you had to give either information or services, according to what you needed and it was hard enough to find enough water on their way he didn't even want to think about the trouble they would have to find enough food.

“We have a few rice fields which need to be harvested if you would help us out a little bit it would be great.”

“Sounds like a fair trade to me. We’ll go.” The older brother decided squeezing his little brother’s hand as he saw his worried look. “It will be alright, don’t worry!”

“We should leave. It’s going to get dark soon and the patrols from the city sometimes come out until here.” Taiga said turning around leading the way, but turning towards them from time to time. Nikaido wasn’t sure what to think about the boy. He was nice and helped them out without knowing them, but he could see fear and doubts in his eyes telling him that even if he might want to he couldn’t fully trust them.

***

“How could you let him go? You know how he is, he always goes way too far, what if he went beyond our border?!”

“It wouldn’t matter so much, if you wouldn’t freak out all the time. You really had to walk over to Hokuto’s place to ask if he is really around?”

“Yes I had to, because you all lied to me often enough and this time you did as well.”

The discussion between Fujigaya and Wataru continued while they were walking towards the boundary of their village trying to find Taiga.

“I swear I’ll kill you some day by accident if you two team up against me all the time!”

“Sure as if your ‘anger’ could be enough to kill someone, at least at the moment!” Wataru chuckled hitting Fujigaya on the shoulder. He gave him a halfhearted smile in respond knowing that it was better this way, because his anger had been dangerous enough before, but now it was worry, disappointment or fear which was the most dangerous part of his power. If it was about his little brother no one could stop him.

When he had woken up earlier and found out that Wataru had lied to him about his brother being at Hokuto’s place he almost burned down Hokuto’s house by accident.

“It’s already getting dark we should-“ Fujigaya stopped abrupt making Wataru almost bump into him.

“What?” He asked confused trying to follow Fujigaya’s look.

Fujigaya had spotted Taiga coming out of the forest and first he felt relived, but when he saw two other people walking with him he freaked. He had told his little brother so often to not talk to strangers and there were good reasons for it, he should know himself the best. It was not so long ago that strangers had come into their village asking for protection and said they wanted to join forces with them against the realitists. But then they turned against them killing his and Taiga’s older brother Mitsu, who was the leader of this village before.

“Taisuke calm down!” Wataru tried to block Fujigaya’s way as he started walking with clenched fists and towards them. “If you freak out now you’ll end up hurting someone!”

“if you don’t want to be that one you should go out of my way!” A stroke of thunder rolled through the sky making Wataru wonder, if his memories would trigger his anger again.

“Taisuke!” On the sound of his little brother’s voice Fujigaya looked over Wataru’s shoulder and saw how Taiga started running towards them. Without thinking he just pushed Wataru to the side approaching his little brother with big steps.

“Taisuke, I’m so sorry for being so late. I forgot about the time and then-“Even though Taiga could feel the pain he needed a moment to realize that his brother had just slapped him. He put his hand to his cheek and looked at him with a stunned expression.

“How dare you lie to me and just leave the village without my knowing? And of all you’re bringing two strangers with you, did you forget what happened before?”

“No I didn’t, but they are different!”

Taiga pointed at them when they had almost caught up to him. But before he could explain anything else Fujigaya had stepped between him and the strangers.

Sensing Fujigaya’s defensive attitude Nikaido stopped and put himself in front of his younger brother as well.

“Who are you?”

“We are fugitives from the city.” Nikaido explained waiting for the other one to show any kind of reaction, but for a moment he just looked at them unsure if he should believe them.

“Why did you flee?”

“My little brother is a phenomenist he wasn’t safe in the city.”

On that Fujigaya’s look fell on Kentaro who was standing behind Nikaido looking more than overstrained with the situation. But he tried hard to not show any kind of emotions to not make the situation even worse.

“Prove it!” On that everyone stared at him disbelieving. You would normally never ask a phenomenist to show his powers on purpose when it wasn’t for a battle or training. You would never know if the situation would escalate.

“Taisuke would you stop it!” Wataru had finally caught up with them and hit Fujigaya on the back of his head the moment he stopped next to him.

“Watta, what the hack?”

“Shut up and apologies!”

“What?”

“I know what you are thinking, but you can’t judge everyone just because you got betrayed once. Give them a chance to show that they are on our side.”

Fujigaya wanted to argue, but Wataru interrupted him right away. “Don’t worry we will be careful and have an eye on them, don’t worry!”

Fujigaya glared at the two strangers. Especially the taller one which seemed just a little bit younger than him was worrying him. He had put one hand on his back inside the jacket over the whole conversation and he knew exactly that there was a weapon hidden inside there. He mistrusted them the same way as he did so much was for sure.

 “Okay we’ll give you some food and a place to sleep! We talk about everything else tomorrow.” Fujigaya said finally grabbing Taiga by the arm dragging him back to the village.

“See you tomorrow!” Taiga said smiling, waving at them before letting himself get dragged back home knowing that he would have to go to a lot of scolding.

Nikaido was more than sure by now that the taller one was Taiga’s older brother, but that was also what made him wonder. Didn’t Taiga say his older brother was a phenomenist? He was so angry and the only thing that had happened was one thunder and that might have even been a natural one.

“Excuse him. He has a not really nice past and a way too hot temper. He is always over careful, especially when it is about his little brother.”

“There we have something in common.” Nikaido said looking at Wataru who showed them the way to their quarters. So he was right he was Taiga’s older brother and somehow he had won his interest despite the harsh greeting.

“Nii-san, are you okay?” Kentaro asked observing his deep in thoughts sunken brother.

“What? Sure, just a little bit tired.” Nikaido responded smiling, ruffling through his brother’s hair.

“Here are your quarters for the night!” Wataru said pointing at a small wooden house. “It’s not that big, but it has at least a stove and a warm bed!” He added smiling. “By the way I’m Wataru a friend of Fujigaya and Taiga, the siblings you met earlier. I’ll explain more tomorrow, when you have rested a little bit!”

For a moment he seemed to think about adding something or not. But when Nikaido heard footsteps behind him he knew what Wataru was hesitating to say.

“I’m sorry I hope you don’t mind that we put guards in front of your house for the night. We have to be careful about strangers.”

“Don’t worry about it. This is a way better treatment than we are used to from the city.” Nikaido said honest.

“I’m really sorry!” Wataru added bowing once. “I’ll bring you some food and tomorrow we will discuss everything else.”

“Thank you!” Nikaido added before entering the house finally feeling at least a little bit safer again. Not having to stay up the whole night waiting for guards to appear to take his brother away. No more pretending that he was alright in front of his little brother so he wouldn’t worry too much.

He smiled at Kentaro again when they entered the house and the smile that he got in return was so bright that the whole house filled with some kind of heart deep warmth and he doubted that it came from the little stove. He was sure that he made the right decision by leaving the city trying to find a new place and a new way to live.


	3. careful approach

 

„Morning.“ Kentaro said careful as he stepped out their quarters.

No reaction from the older brother, he just looked at him with crossed arms in front of his chest still skeptic if he can trust them.

“Morning.” It was the little brother of course who approached him smiling. “Is your older brother still sleeping?”

“Yes he seems really exhausted. He never really slept more than a few hours back in the city always worried that a guard might find us. I hope he can finally calm down a little bit here.”

“As long as he doesn’t sleep all day, he still has to help with some work!” Fujigaya mumbled in an annoyed voice on which his little brother shot him an angry glare.

“Taisuke, I would say Senga needs some help with his work over there!” Taiga said pointing towards the fields and Fujigaya got the broad hint and excused himself with a sceptic look at Kentaro.

Kentaro looked over the village of which he couldn't see that much as they had come the evening before as it was already dark. Even though they had definitely built all the houses themselves and where living a quite simple life with growing rice and maybe going fishing at the river or hunting, the village had a weird, but fascinating atmosphere. You could see the clear difference between old buildings which they seemed to have built right in the beginning and bigger, more stable once which have definitely followed later.

As Fujigaya had finally left them alone over Taiga shook his head at his older brother once more before turning to Kentaro.

“Come on I show you around the village!” Taiga said happily. Kentaro nodded, but his eyes fell on the guards. One was already standing just a few meters behind him and the other one remained at the house entrance.

“Don’t worry. I know it seems a little bit too much of protection, but our village has a not so nice history.” Taiga went over to one of the guards and put his hand on his shoulder. “This is Tegoshi and the red haired back there is Massu! They seem kind of scary I know, but they are really nice and funny guys.”

On that Massu came a few steps forward hitting Taiga on the back of his head. “You little brat, don’t ruin our image.” On that the blond one started laughing as Kentaro would never have imagined that he could. Their image really changed from one moment to the other.

“Sorry boy, we really don’t want to scare you, but it’s kind of our job to seem scary you know.” The red haired said, lifting up his arms pretending to be a ghost.

“Yes Massu, really scary!” Taiga said slapping him on the shoulder chuckling, before leaving with Kentaro and Tegoshi.

***

Nikaido woke up feeling like he had never even once slept so well in his entire life. But it didn’t take him long to realize that his little brother wasn’t in the house anymore. So he jumped up rushing out the door almost colliding with Massu when he stumbled outside. Massu lifted his hands out of reflex trying to catch him, but instead of being thankful Nikaido grabbed him by the collar as he found his balance.

“Where is my brother?” 

“Woah calm down, he went for a walk with Taiga, don’t panic!”

“Show me where they went!”

Massu just raised an eyebrow on his angry voice.

“And your brother just hoped that you would finally relax a little bit here, I guess he was wrong!” Massu said chuckling.

“Are you making fun of me?” Nikaido tightened his grip on Massu’s collar convinced that he would win a fight against him. He was smaller than him and didn’t look that strong, he wondered how could they make someone like him a guard.

“Forget it! I search for him myself!” Nikaido shouted, letting go of him and walked off to the wrong direction. “Don’t follow me!” He added angry when Massu started walking right behind him.

 “But that’s my job if you forgot it and just so you know you walk into the wrong direction.”

Nikaido stopped abrupt making Massu pump into him.

“You really beg for a punch in the face don’t you?”

Massu just shrugged with his shoulders looking at him with this kind of annoyed and bored look which made Nikaido freak out. Without thinking he just lunged out for a punch, but the moment he had aimed for Massu’s face he had already disappeared from his sight.

“What the-?”

“Behind you!” Nikaido flinched when Massu tipped on his shoulder from behind. But he didn’t want this little red haired moron to make a fool out of him. He tried to hit him again and this time he could at least see how he moved that fast even though he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“How do you do this?”

“Do what?”

“Are you kidding me? You are floating in the air!” This guy was really unbelievable, Nikaido felt like talking to a kid. “You are a phenomenist?”

“Yes I am.”

“And he is a skilled one!” Nikaido turned around on the sound of familiar voice. Fujigaya approached them still in the same unfriendly mood as the evening before. “So if you know what’s good for you I wouldn’t mess with him!”

“Then maybe you want to take his place?” Nikaido asked challenging.

“I would prefer a fight with me than to be honest!” Massu said making Fujigaya glare at him. “What? Sorry Taisuke, but fighting with you means getting killed, because of a twister out of worry or a typhoon out of sadness. You are really dangerous!”

Nikaido was a little bit confused by Massu’s statement. Fujigaya was so angry yesterday, but nothing had happened. How could he be so dangerous?

“Anyways…”Fujigaya continued after hawking kind of embarrassed. “Where is your brother?” He asked Nikaido.

“Your guard told me he went off with your little brother earlier.”

“What? He was here just a minute ago! Massu don’t tell me you let them just go like this?” Fujigaya turned to him with wide eyes.

“Yes I did, but don’t worry. Tegoshi is with them.” Massu said pointing to the direction they went off to earlier.

Suddenly a strong wind hit them and Nikaido had to put his weight against it so that he wouldn’t lose balance. The next moment Fujigaya pushed Massu out of his way and walked off into the direction he just pointed to.

“Taisuke, calm down! You don’t have to worry so much all the time!”

“Shut up!” When Fujigaya swirled around once more Nikaido found himself on the ground without even realizing what had happened. While Massu had jumped out of the way right in time as Fujigaya had trhown a sharp wind gust at them without even wanting to, Nikaido couldn't react that fast.

“That’s exactly what I meant when I said you are more dangerous than me!” He shouted at Fujigaya before turning around to Nikaido. “Are you alright?”

He offered him a hand to help him back up and when Nikaido looked at Fujigaya, the latter’s look was kind of apologizing, but he didn’t say anything before turning around again leaving them behind.

“You have to excuse him. When it is about his little brother he gets kind of overemotional. He doesn’t want to, but every time he starts worrying about him he just attacks wild around him.”

Nikaido could definitely see or even more feel that. But it was weird even though this guy was kind of annoying and wasn’t that found of him either he wanted to know more about him, because even though he tried to act reluctant towards them, he could see that there was a good reason behind his behavior and he wanted to know what it was.

***

“How about you participate in our training tomorrow?”

On that question Nikaido and Fujigaya both almost choked on their rice.

“What?” They asked at the same time making their younger brothers laugh at them.

The rest of the day had gone by without any other problems. Nikaido had helped out on the fields as promised. Kentaro and Taiga had walked around the village like they would have been best buddies forever and Fujigaya was still not really happy about them being here at all. Not to speak of them sitting in his and Taiga's house for dinner, because of course Taiga had invited them right away.

And now that Taiga even asked if they wanted to train with them he felt even more uneasy about the situation.

“You want them to get killed or maybe us to get killed? We don’t know how Kentaro’s control over his powers is!” Fujigaya tried to interfere, but Taiga just shrugged his shoulders.

“We didn’t know your control at the first training either and no one died. Okay Watta almost died, but just almost!” When he continued speaking he looked at Kentaro and Nikaido trying to ignore the death glare he received from hi brother. “We have awesome trainers! Massu and Tegoshi were once trained by some awesome phenomenists to gain control over their powers. If it is about tactic and control we have Keiichiro and when you want to learn how to use your power with as much force as possible you ask Fuma! We also have a good trainer for humans who want to train their fighting skills, he is called Senga!” He added addressing Nikaido.

“Sounds at least like it would be worth trying, right Nii-san?” Kentaro asked his brother curious.

But Fujigaya could see the worry in his eyes, the same worry he shared when his little brother was with him at the training ground and he guessed that it was even more difficult for him, because his little brother was the phenomenist so he had to do most of the fighting and he couldn't help him if something would go wrong.

“It will be fine, just come and take a look tomorrow! We will be there with you so nothing will happen!” Fujigaya realized how carrying his words must have sounded when all eyes were on him.

“I’m just saying you know. It’s not that I want you there, but if you want to come you don’t have to worry, okay!” Fujigaya put down his rice bowl hawking awkwardly before leaving the room excusing himself for a moment.

“He is not always like this, don’t worry. He seems really coldhearted at the beginning and always wants to pretend that he doesn’t care for anyone, but he actually cares too much most of the time!” Taiga explained with a smile.

***

“Hey.” Fujigaya flinched when Nikaido appeared out of nowhere behind him after he was lost in his thoughts strolling through the village for a few minutes already.

“Hey,” he replied not really looking at him while keeping on moving. Nikaido followed him hands in his pockets. Fujigaya wasn’t really sure why, but somehow he was not bothered by his company.

When they had left the village behind Fujigaya sat down on the edge of a huge cracked stone. Nikaido stopped in front of him looking down, kicking away a small stone.

“Sit down!” Realizing that Nikaido was obviously unsure if he should sit down next to him Fujigaya tapped on the rock.

After they had both sat down they remained silent watching the night night sky for a while.

“If you don’t want us to join the training it’s no problem.” Nikaido started. “We are strangers after all, you can’t just trust us like this, I understand.”

“He was just one year older than me.”

“What?”

“My older brother was killed by realitists, when we gave shelter to two humans coming to our village asking for help. It was him who accepted them. He was a phenomenist as well, a really good one. But on the other hand he was as naïve as my little brother. He trusted everyone never doubting anyone’s words.”

Fujigaya paused for a moment trying to get his emotions back under control as the wind started blowing around them. Nikaido didn’t move. He just looked at him understanding, waiting for him to continue.

“It was my fault that he died. They attacked me first. At that time I wasn’t a phenomenist or more like not the one I’m today, but that’s another story.” Nikaido could see that he wasn’t sure how much he should tell him. “We are sitting on one of my doings of that evening by the way.” Fujigaya added tapping on the rock again. "I know it's crappy formed, but I guess you know already that my power control is not the best."  When he met Nikaido’s eyes they both had to chuckle a little bit.

Fujigaya couldn’t explain why, but even though he learnt through a really hard lesson that he shouldn’t trust anyone so easily it was different with this stranger. He had never been the talkative one, but right now he felt like he finally found someone he could pour out his heart to.

“Everything happened too fast and I still can’t believe that Mitsu lost his life, because I couldn’t defend myself. I almost lost Taiga that day as well and I know that he also feels responsible for Mitsu’s death.”

When Nikaido put his hand on Fujigaya’s shoulder squeezing it lightly as the first raindrops fell. Fujigaya tried to wipe away his tears, but new ones were following right away. It was the first time that he talked about this night to anyone else than the person’s which had been present. The first time he didn’t have to be the older brother. With Nikaido he could finally be vulnerable.

For the rest of the night they didn’t speak much anymore. After their conversation Fujigaya just hoped that he didn't make a mistake to trust Nikaido that much without even knowing him. He was sure that if he would get betrayed by someone again his own powers would rip him apart.

 

 


	4. in times of peace

** **

 

„WATCH OUT!“ Kentaro couldn’t watch this any longer. He stood next to Taiga shaking his head in disbelieve over this childish fight.

„Are you trying to kill me?“ Nikaido yelled outraged.

“Maybe!”

Fujigaya and Nikaido were screaming at each other for over 20 minutes already.

The training had started without any kind of big accidents until Fujigaya saw how Taiga got hit by his sparring partner with the training sword too hard and went down holding his arm in pain.

He had been in the middle of an attack from Tegoshi and Massu almost a hundred meters away from him, but when it was about his little brother his powers worked wonders.  He had blocked both their attacks before rushing over to his brother with such a speed that thanks to the wind first Tegoshi and Massu got almost blown away before he had collided with Nikaido who was already standing next to Taiga helping him up, when Fujigaya couldn’t stop his own movements in time. Nikaido had found himself almost five meters away on the ground afterwards. Since then both were screaming at each other and Fujigaya was already so angry that he had thrown several wind blows and rocks at Nikaido.

“This is kind of interesting!” Taiga said smiling.

“Which part? That my brother freaks out like a furious housewife or that your brother tries to kill exactly this wife at the moment?” Kentaro asked sarcastic.

“Good comparison, but no!” He responded chuckling. “You know my brother has his problems with the control of his powers here and there. When he is worried about me all his powers go overboard. But anger, anger is so hard to get out of him normally! Of course when he gets scared or worried his powers are dangerous as well, but this is because he can’t control them! But when you try to make him furious he kind of shows no reaction or at least his powers don’t.”

“And?” Kentaro asked confused raising an eyebrow at him.

“And now look at him! He is screaming at your brother furiously for minutes now, throwing things at him he could normally never lift with anger and he even controls his anger.” The moment he ended his sentence a crack appeared in front of their feet making them jump back a meter.

“You call this control?”

“Trust me if he wouldn’t control his powers right now we would maybe already be dead!”

Kentaro was still not so convinced of Fujigaya’s control, but for now he had nothing to worry anymore asTegoshi and Massu came to stop the fight. While they blocked Fujigaya’s attacks Wataru and Senga hold back Nikaido so that they wouldn’t attack each other right away again.

“Okay that’s enough for today.” Wataru announced making both groups, the phenomenists and the humans leave the training area.

There were just a few humans in the village, Wataru and Senga were something like the leaders of the humans and in charge of their training. There were just three other humans fighting with them.  There was one younger one, maybe even a little bit too young for all this fighting, his name was Aran. Then there was one about the same age as Kentaro, his name was Myuto. And the oldest one of the younger group was called Kento.

Tegoshi and Massu were in charge of the phenomenists' training. There were five other phenomenists beside the two trainers, Fujigaya and Kentaro who was still impressed how different the phenomenists could use their powers depending on their personalities. There was a really chaotic one who was fascinated by every little thing he could move, Kishi. Then there were two really quiet ones, but they were extraordinary skilled, almost the same as Tegoshi and Massu, they were called Hokuto and Ryosuke. The loudest and most chaotic one was Fuma and the one which the most tactical skills was also the oldest one Keiichiro.

Even though his brother was still shouting at Fujigaya he had to smile at them a little bit. It was the first time in an eternity that he saw his brother like this. Not angry, but lively. No fear, no worries. Somehow he hoped that time could stop here in this small village and they could just remain here and pretend like this whole war would never have happened.

***

“Kishi, would you sit down already! I’m not in the mood to run after you the whole evening waiting for you to collapse!” Aran was already asking him for at least the third time, but Kishi was just smiling at him before he escaped Aran’s grip on his wrist and hid behind Myuto.

“If you want me to sit down you have to tie me up to a chair!” Kishi said teasing sticking out his tongue.

“Is that a challenge?” Now they started chasing each other to the whole room and unfortunately they got Myuto in this chaotic mood as well, so there were three hyperactive boys running around between the rest of them. Most of the others were too exhausted to even move away from their position.

It was already late in the evening and the training was getting to all of them. They were sitting inside the city hall, the biggest building of the village. Wataru had explained something about a patrol they wanted to start, forming troops to watch the regions around the village to protect it better. After the talking part was over everything went more into something like a relaxed sit in.

Wataru, Senga, Tegoshi and Massu were the only ones still talking about the serious stuff. The younger ones were all still kind of hyper and the rest was sitting here and there in small groups.

Kentaro was watching all of them with a smile when Taiga was tipping him on the shoulder.

“What is it, you seem so absent!” Taiga asked looking at him almost worried.

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that I’m not used to something like this anymore.”

“Something like this?”

“People laughing, having fun and feeling secure. For the last two years I was living in fear. In fear of losing my brother or getting caught by the realitists.”

“I know what you mean! In the beginning we were near the city as well. With already one brother as a phenomenist back then I was always living in fear that he would get taken away from me. When we finally got here and built this village we were finally feeling safe again. And I guess your brother feels the same!” Taiga added smiling pointing out to Fujigaya and Nikaido which were sitting at a table facing each other, laughing so loud that even Kishi and the others were turning to them from time to time with a smile.

“I don’t understand those two. One moment they try to rip each other apart and the other moment they are like this.”

“It’s the first time that I see my brother like this as well. Even when he trusts someone there is normally this security remaining in his behavior, but with your brother at his side he seems like there had never been a war at all, as he would never had to experience all this hardship at all.”

“Yeah I know exactly what you mean!”

They were watching their brothers smiling, even if it would be just one day or an hour or even a second. For now it seemed like the world was standing still and all the hardship, all of them went through, was forgotten.

***

“Okay so each day we will have one troops patrolling around each border. As I explained yesterday this is no challenge or something! Don’t get yourself in danger, we are not trying to get into fights, you understand me? Fuma?"

Everyone turned around to Fuma who was looking up on his name. “Hey why are you addressing me personally?” He asked crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“You really have to ask that?” Kento asked putting his hand on his shoulder looking at him with a lopsided smile. “Don’t worry Wataru I won’t let him do something stupid!”

Fuma just rolled his eyes on him, but when Kento slapped him on the shoulder turning to leave he followed him kind of automatically.

Kentaro was really impressed how balanced the groups were. Even though a few of them seemed like day and night they were like the perfect team. Especially Tegoshi and Massu as well as Kento and Fuma were a perfect example for this.

“What? Wataru what kind of patrolling plan is this? Why am I paired up with him?” Kentaro looked at Fujigaya who was shouting at Wataru and pointing at Nikaido at the same time. When Kentaro looked at the patrolling plan he got from Wataru he couldn’t believe it. He had really put Nikaido and Fujigaya in the same group.

He himself was going the day after with Senga and Wataru, Taiga was going with Keiichiro. Kishi, Aran and Myuto were also on the team as were Ryosuke and Hokuto.

“Don’t complain, we decided the teams by strength and ability, if you want to go with someone else you might need to train a little bit more."

"Wait, so you are telling me that he is going with me as the stronger part of the team? Don't make me laugh!" Fujigaya glared at Nikaido who seemed as annoyed by Wataru's decision as him.

"Anyways!" Wataru continued, giving Fujigaya a warning look, so that he wouldn't interupt him again. "I want you to check all the borders today! Fuma, Kento you are going to the northern border.”

“What? There is no one there who would come from there! At least no realitists!" Fuma let out indignant.

“That’s exactly why I send you there!” Wataru replied teasing.

“Tegoshi, Massu you are going to the southern border. Take a look if realitists are on patrol, but don’t act on your own! If you see them near the border just report it later! Nikaido and Fujigaya you’ll check the western border! There is no need to send a troup towards the ocean. Not even the realitists would take the risk and risk to get too near to the shore with all the warships still patrolling along the coasts.”

With that the troops went on their way and Kentaro had to laugh at his brother when he was already arguing with Fujigaya again the moment they moved westwards.

***

“Don’t cling so much!” Fujigaya hissed annoyed.

“I’m not clinging you are just moving too slow!”

“Then search for your own path if it bothers you so much to walk behind me!”

Nikaido flicked his tongue before pumping into Fujigaya who stopped abrupt on Nikaido’s behavior.

“Are you now playing sulky or what?” He asked turning around with crossed arms in front of his chest.”

“Even if I would, why would you care?” Nikaido couldn't really figure him out at all, even though he tried to without knowing why. At some point Fujigaya had opened up to him completely and then again he treated him like an enemy or at least as someone he didn't care for.

“Good question!” With that Fujigaya turned around again moving on, leaving Nikaido behind. He looked after him for a moment not moving. Even if he wanted to just ignore his ignorant behavior he couldn’t. They were somewhere in the middle of the forest hours away from the village! He left his brother there together with Kentaro! He couldn’t still think that they would be enemies, so why did he treat him like this? Especially when he himself wanted to learn more about him.

The earth started to shake when Nikaido woke up from his daydreams. The moment he looked up he heard a huge noise coming from the south and before he could even react there was a huge crack opening under him and he fell.

He couldn’t even scream. The moment he fell he just shut his eyes preparing for a long fall with a painful impact on the ground if there would even be an end to this crack somewhere. But then his fall was stopped. Not on the ground, but somewhere in the middle. There was something on his arm and when he looked up he could see some kind of vine around his wrist holding him in the air.

“What are you doing? Be a little bit helpful and climb it up yourself would you?”

Fujigaya was standing at the side of the crack looking concentrated along the vine, which he had moved down right in time without even knowing how.

“It was hard enough to move this fucking thing down there, pulling it up is not that easy.” He shouted seeming already exhausted by the sudden use of his powers.

The moment Nikaido grabbed the vine with his other hand trying to pull himself upwards there was another huge impact and the walls of the crack started to crumble so that he had nowhere to get hold with his feet anymore. The crack was slowly crumbling in itself.

“Fujigaya get me out of here NOW!”

“I can’t!”

“You have two choices! Let me drop and run before the earth beneath you crumbles as well or drag me up!”

Another huge impact and the first big part next to Fujigaya ripped out of the earth, falling into the crack almost hitting Nikaido!”

“GAYA! NOW!”

The vine moved by itself when Fujigaya screamed out, moving backwards with outstretched hands like he would try to pull the air away. Just in time Nikaido reached the edge of the crack. The moment he stood up the earth underneath him crumbled and he jumped forward getting enough distance between him and the crack to be sure that he would be safe.

“What was that?” Nikaido stared unbelieving at the almost five meter wide crack which seemed to not have a bottom.

“Fujigaya what- FUJIGAYA!” Nikaido rushed over to him as he realized that he had fainted. He put the side of his head on his chest and froze when he couldn’t feel his heartbeat. He must have used too much of his powers when he tried to lift him out of the crack earlier. Through Fujigaya's lag of power-control a sudden use like this had brought him over his limits.

“Don’t you dare to die on me now or your brother will kill me!” Without losing time he started to reanimate him. And even though it was not the time for feelings like this the moment he put his lips on his everything inside of him just paused for a moment, like he would want this to be a moment in which he could feel something else than the fear of loosing him.

It seemed like an eternity in which he sat there pressing down his chest desperately and trying to fill his lungs with air.  But then finally he felt how Fujigaya filled his lungs with air by himself. He wouldn’t open his eyes, but that he was breathing again was enough for now.

“Thanks god!” He held on to his hand for a moment putting it against his forehead. He had to bring him back to the village, but he knew already that it would take much longer than the promised returning time. Thanks to the crack he had to walk northwards first trying to find at least a part where it wasn’t that wide anymore or if he was lucky there might be a tree which had been fallen over it.

He lifted Fujigaya from the ground carefully holding him in his arms and even though he felt exhausted through their sudden rescue action he demanded his body to move so that they both would make it back to their brothers.

***

Every breath he took tasted like copper and his arms were so heavy that he thought the muscles must rip apart every moment, when he finally reached the village.

“NII-SAN!”

“TAISUKE!”

Kentaro and Taiga were the first who saw them coming. The whole village was in an uproar, but somehow Nikaido knew that it wasn’t just because they were late.

“What happened?” Taiga asked as he stared worried at his brother in Nikaido’s arms.

“Don’t worry he will be alright, he overdid it a little bit!” Nikaido answered trying to form a convincing smile.

“NII-SAN!” Nikaido's legs gave in the moment his little brother screamed out for him. Wataru and Senga had rushed over fast enough to catch Fujigaya and stop Nikaido’s fall. But knwoing that Fujigaya was safe, Nikaido finally gave in to the demands of his overtired body ignoring his brother’s shouting when he closed his eyes in exhaustion.


	5. past sins

** **

 

** Phenomenist **

** Chapter 5 **

**Past sins**

„Hey Nika wake up! Niiiiika!“ Fujigaya was sitting next to Nikaido pocking his cheek. When Nikaido opened his eyes he flinched back as he realized that Fujigaya was sitting just a few inches next to him staring at his face.

“What the hell are you doing?” He asked in a hoarse voice while sitting up. “Why are you awake already?”

“Already? You slept almost a whole day!”

“What?”

“It’s already afternoon and if I heard correctly we arrived back here yesterday evening, right?”

“Right…” Nikaido was stroking over his own face with one hand before staring at Fujigaya almost shocked. “Fujigaya!”

“Woah, what? Don’t scare me!” Fujigaya jerked back when Nikaido grabbed him by the shoulders examining his body with his eyes.

“Are you alright?” He asked worried.

“Yes, I’m fine Nika!”

“Nika?” Nikaido repeated and gave him a confused look.

“Yes, Nika! Some problems with the name?”

“No not really, but why are you calling me this out of the blue?”

“It’s just fair that when you call me Gaya, I call you Nika I guessed.” Fujigaya replied shrugging his shoulders.

“Gaya?”

“Hey, don’t you give me this ‘I don’t remember calling you this’ look! You did and that exactly the moment when I thought I would lose you!” Fujigaya hit him on the back of his head playing angry.

“Ah, yes I guess I did.” Nikaido remembered. He was still not completely awake, all the memories from the last day were coming back to him bit by bit.

“The earthquake, the crack! What happened, it must have been a phenomenist, right?”

Fujigaya didn’t answer. He looked to the ground for a moment his face turning darker.

“Gaya?”

“It was Massu! He and Tegoshi were at the southern border just a few kilometers away from us. Two realitists were on a patrol as well and of course they ran into each other.”

“But Wataru told them to come back and report, right?”

“Yes, but the problem was that because they saw them they couldn’t just come back here. They would have followed them and then our position would get known. So they decided to fight, but the realitists fled. Massu wanted to return, but Tegoshi wouldn’t listen to him and followed them.”

As he paused for a moment and looked away, Nikaido got a bad feeling about what was coming next.

“Don’t tell me that he is…” Nikaido sat up putting his hands on Fujigaya’s shoulders as the latter didn't dare to look up at him. “Where is he?”

“He is at Miyata’s house. Miyata tried everything to save him and-“

“And what?” it made him angry that Fujigaya was not talking straight forward, but he also didn't want to voice out his thoughts.

“He is alive, but he doesn’t know for how long. He ran into a trap the realitists had set up, knowing that there were phenomenists patrolling through the forest from time to time. Massu was too late, he freaked out so much that the crack appeared. When the realitists were about to flee he caused the second earthquake. I don’t even want to know how painful their death must have been. You know Tegoshi and Massu are close since they were small kids. If Tegoshi dies Massu will go straight for the city and no one will be able to stop him. He will get himself killed over his death.”

Nikaido needed a moment to let this entire situation sink in. For the first time in an eternity he thought he was safe again, that he had found a place to stay and even found someone he could share all his worries and fears with and then this whole world was about to crumble again.

“MASSU, STOP! MASSU!”

On the sound of Wataru’s angry voice Nikaido jumped up and ran outside with Fujigaya at his side.

“You can’t just go there! They’ll kill you! Stay here, stay at Tegoshi’s side. He will need you when he wakes up!” Massu shoved Wataru away so hard that Senga had to catch him.

“Wake up? Don’t make me laugh! You really think he will survive? I will never forgive them!”  Massu turned around again, but before he even reached the gates of the village Nikaido’s body had acted on itself.

"Nika, what are you doing?" Fujigaya asked worried as Nikaido dashed forward, but Nikaido shook him off as he tried to stop him and stopped in front of Massu punching him so hard that he went to the ground. Massu looked at him in shock, but didn't try to fight back.

“And you really call yourself his friend?” Nikaido asked angry.

Massu escaped an angry scream as he stood up again grabbing him by the collar. “What do you know about our lives?”

“I don’t care for your lives, your problems or friendship. I don’t know your past and I don’t care. I care for you and for him RIGHT NOW! Because we are living NOW and he is over there NOW!”

He held in for a moment while Massu let go of his collar an guilty expression replacing his anger bit by bit.

“He is lying there now, alone! You want to leave him here? You really want to waste your life leaving him here all by himself?”

Massu did not say anything in return. He looked Nikaido in the eyes just for a brief moment before he turned around walking past everyone going back inside the house sitting down next to Tegoshi’s bed again. Everyone stared from Nikaido back to Miyata's house for a moment until all eyes rested on Nikaido who needed a moment to understand why they were looking at him.

“Nii-san!” Kentaro had walked up to him and finally Nikaido took a deep shuttering breath as it felt like he had forgotten to breathe for the last minutes. “It’s alright!”

Nikaido needed a moment to get why his brother was saying that to him. But when he lifted his hand to his cheek there were tears rolling over it. His little brother pulled him into a hug and he was more than thankful for it.

“Nii-san, calm down. I’m here, don’t worry!” When the rain started it was cold and full of sadness. He pulled his little brother even closer in his embrace, not even trying to hide his emotions. And with Wataru sending everyone away and the crowd of people dissolving around them again they went back to their house trying to get out of all the chaos of the day and after a while someone knocked on the door.

“May I come in?” Fujigaya asked as he opened the door carefully. Kentaro had fallen asleep on Nikaido’s lap while Nikaido was stroking over his hair. Nikaido gave him a signal to wait for a moment sliding away under his brother, putting a blanket over him before moving over to Fujigaya.

“Let’s take a walk!”

When they went outside again the rain had stopped and it made Nikaido smile. They went to the huge cracked rock again where they had sat together just a few evenings before.

“So…” Fujigaya started carefully. “What happened there earlier and then your brother’s reaction. Want to talk about it?”

Nikaido stayed still for a moment, but he knew that if there would be someone who would listen to his story it would be him.

“It was right after the end of the war. Kentaro and I were in the city and the first phenomenists got their powers. We were just so scared you know! We were lucky that we survived the war and then there were mutant like humans running around everywhere. We never sided with the realitists, but we avoided the phenomenists as much as possible. And then there was this one fight we had. To be honest I don’t even remember what it was about, but then Kentaro hit the wall next to him and it crumbled down like it would be out of paper. I just stared at him, I will never forget the look in his eyes as he realized himself what he had become. And then…then I just…”

Nikaido tried to hide his sobs, but he couldn’t. And he didn’t have to. Fujigaya pulled him into a hug to Nikaido’s surprise.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

He stroke over his hair and Nikaido grasped his sleeves taking a deep breath. He wouldn’t do like nothing happened back then. He decided that it was time to talk about his mistakes and now he wouldn’t make a drawback. He closed his eyes for a moment listening to Fujigaya’s heartbeat before continuing.

“I ran away. I didn’t know what to do so I just ran. I left him alone. I left my own brother alone in a city full of people who would try to kill him if they would find out about his powers. And who wouldn’t find out about his powers when his emotions were running over at that moment. His own brother left him, because he thought he was a monster. And I think I can just tell others how to live their lives? I’m not even sure what happened before, why I said that to Massu, I…”

“Nika, stop!” Fujigaya took a hold on his shoulders so that he would face him. “You chose the right way in the end, right? You went back to your brother, you protected him and you still do! You helped Massu to do the right thing as well. What happened back then is in the past, so don’t get so worked up about it, okay.“

“But what if he would have got killed back then…”

“Nika!” Now Fujigaya took his face in his hands when he tried to look away. “Stop! You said we are living NOW not in our past, right?”

"But I have risked his life. I have failed in making the right desicion. I shouldn't lecture anyone about important things like friendship." Nikaido let out with a long sigh, but Fujigaya just shook his head forming an encouraging smile.

"Humans make mistakes, we learn from our mistakes and all you did was helping to prevent Massu from making a mistake as well."

"But it still feels wrong..."

"Nika, would you please stop!"

“But-“Nikaido wanted to argue again, but when he tried to continue speaking his words were stopped by Fujigaya’s lips. Nikaido froze for a moment not knowing how to react. This was not what he had expected and when Fujigaya backed off he seemed surprised by his own actions.

“Sorry, I just- I didn’t had any other arguments left and-.” He stumbled apologizing while the wind around them turned stronger. Fujigaya stood up walking away from him a few steps, ruffling through his hair, trying to calm down so that the wind would stop. “We should go back, not that Kentaro wakes up and you are gone for so long, he might get worried.”

Nikaido needed a moment to catch up with his words before nodding following him in silence. They didn’t even look at each other until they reached the village again. But when Fujigaya excused himself wanting to take a look at Massu and Tegoshi, Nikaido could do nothing but stare after him trying to find out why he had to suppress the urge to run after him.

“Nii-san, where did you go?” Kentaro asked as he opened the door looking at his brother worried.

“Oh sorry, I just took a small walk!” He smiled at his brother before looking at Fujigaya once more. Fujigaya was again ruffling through his hair and when he clenched his fists and stretched his arms out to the ground two small rocks loosened themselves out of the ground and made Fujigaya stumble over it.

“What are you smiling at?” His little brother asked when he saw Nikaido’s amused face before he entered the house.

“Nothing special, just an interesting discovery.”

 


	6. bonds

 

„NIKA WAKE UP!“ When Fujigaya almost broke the door out of its angles Nikaido jumped out of his bed. His little brother got scared from Fujigaya’s hysterical invasion so much that Nikaido had to pull Fujigaya away from the door when Kentaro let drop one of the wooden bars next to it.

“Sorry, Kentaro! I didn’t mean to scare you!” Fujigaya looked at him apologizing.

“What is it?” When Kentaro started to chuckle at them Nikaido didn’t understand what was going on anymore. But when Fujigaya turned around to look at him as confused he realized why his brother was laughing. He was holding Fujigaya close in his arms. After he had pulled him away under the falling bar Fujigaya just remained so close to him like it would be completely natural.

Fujigaya turned away hawking embarrassed after Nikaido had finally let go again. For a moment they all fell silent when Fujigaya swirled around to him again.

“I FORGOT!” Fujigaya started yelling again.

“Forgot what? What’s going on?”

“Tegoshi!”

Nikaido was prepared for the worst when Fujigaya continued, but what he said then was about to change everything. Not just their life here, but the whole situation in this country.

“He is fine! He got healed!”

“He…what? How?”

“We are not completely sure, but Massu was sitting next to his bed the whole night holding on to his hand and when Nakamaru came in this morning Massu had kind of collapsed through exhaustion like he would have used his powers too much and Tegoshi woke up like nothing would have happened to him.”

“So Massu healed him with his powers?” Nikaido asked unbelieving.

“That’s amazing!” Kentaro stood up looking kind of confused, but also hopeful. “Nii-san what if we all can do that?”

Nikaido didn’t want to raise hopes where maybe were none, but he nodded at him smiling for now. “We have to find out, but for now let’s check on them.”

Nikaido was more than surprised when Tegoshi almost jumped at him when they entered the room. He really seemed completely fine. No one would believe that he was in a dying condition just a few hours ago. But even though Tegoshi seemed fine again his face showed guilt and as he turned to look at Massu sitting on the bed looking pale and exhausted he could understand why.

“Nikaido, are you okay?” Tegoshi asked worried.

“Yes why shouldn’t I? You are the one we worried about!” Nikaido replied teasing trying to loosen up the heavy atmosphere a little bit.

“I heard from Massu about the crack and that you almost got killed because of my stupid behavior! I’m so sorry!” Tegoshi bowed in front of him, but the only reaction he got as an answer was a hit on the back of his head from Nikaido.

“Stupid! That was not your fault and no it wasn’t yours either, Massu!” Nikaido had already noticed Massu’s ashamed look when he had entered. “Tegoshi, you wanted to protect what was precious to you and Massu you thought you’ve lost someone important to you! Everything that happened yesterday was no one’s fault!”

Nikaido looked through the room confused when all the eyes were on him.

“What?”

Wataru put his hand on his shoulder from behind. “You know Nikaido, you and your brother came here just a week ago and so much has changed since then. Your brother finally got more control over his powers now that he can feel at least a little bit safer, you can finally think of something else than worrying for him and you even got Taisuke so far that he doesn’t run through the whole village destroying it by accident searching for his brother every time he is gone for a minute.”

Taiga had to chuckle on his words and Fujigaya shoved him away playing angry.

“And you saved a life!” Massu had stood up from the bed and Wataru made space for him. “Or more like two lives. If you wouldn’t have been around I would have left Tegoshi behind. He would have died here without me and I would have gotten myself killed in a fight I shouldn’t have taken on!”

Nikaido wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what. Sure he was the one stopping him from leaving and yes he could feel how his brother and he himself grew to be a part of the village and how Fujigaya grew to him even more than just a friend. But on the other hand he still felt guilty about all that has happened in his own past. He didn’t want to be seen as a kind of hero when he was none.

“Don’t praise him so much or he will play king from now on!” It was Fujigaya of course who started teasing him. And Nikaido was more than happy about it, because like this the heavy atmosphere was finally resolving.

“And my first order would be a prohibition for you to feel any kind of emotion at all.”

“What? How would that be possible?”

“Oh trust me he would find a way!” Kentaro said laughing.

“Maybe we should put Taiga on a ten meter high platform in the middle of the village and put a glass walled cage around him so Taisuke sees that he is fine all the time.” Senga suggested.

“Ha, ha. Then I’ll suggest that you get banned from the village so that I don’t have a reason to get angry anymore!” Fujigaya responded pointing his finger at Senga.

“As if someone would be afraid of your anger, little toothless lion!” Senga said teasing jumping around Fujigaya while everyone broke out into laughter.

Nikaido had to smile on the small chaos. They were right, when he came here he and his brother weren’t even welcome and even the people which were living here together all the time had forgotten that it was their friendship that was keeping their hope alive! Finally he could see that those people were trying to hold on to this hope, trying to build their own future! And he would be part of it. He wouldn’t leave those people behind.

“I guess our family just grew bigger!” He said smiling to his little brother putting his arm around his shoulders squeezing him happily.

“Oh that’s good, like this I’m not the youngest anymore, Taiga is my little brother now!” Kentaro explained smiling, before adding: “But maybe I got one older brother as well or more like a brother in law!” With a smirk he left Nikaido staring after him with his lower jaw dropped open.

“What happened, you look like you’ve seen a ghost!” He hawked looking away when Fujigaya was approaching him.

“No, it’s nothing.” He tried to play cool, but somehow he found himself staring at Fujigaya, luckily he didn’t seem to notice. He knew that there was something special going on with him and Fujigaya, but that even his little brother got that already was somehow scaring him. Wataru and the others made their comments here and there as well and he knew that he couldn’t ignore it much longer.

***

“Damnit what the hell am I doing here?” Nikaido was standing in front of Fujigaya’s house unsure if he should really knock. His own brother had shoved him out of his house saying that he and Taiga had invited Aran, Kishi and a few others for the night, so he didn’t want any “older ones” around and he should find himself some company.

“I will pay him back for this!”

“Nika?” Nikaido was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t realize that Fujigaya had opened the door.

“Oh, hi!” Nikaido wanted to hit himself for his ‘first date’ like reaction.

“I guess Taiga is at your place with Kentaro?”

“Ehm yes…” Both had to smile a little bit realizing that they got set up by their own younger brothers.

“Come in, I guess we are the outsiders today!” Fujigaya stepped back so he could enter.

“But I’m really happy that they get along so well!” Fujigaya said smiling sitting down on a straw mat in front of the fire place and offered Nikaido to sit down next to him.

“Yeah it’s really like they were friends for years already!” Nikaido added sitting down as well.

“So what are we?” On his direct question Nikaido froze.

“What do you mean?” He wanted to find out about his feelings as well, but he didn’t think that Fujigaya would be so straight forward. “We are friends as well I guess?” Inside of him he just cursed himself for saying this. Why would he lie?

But Fujigaya just chuckled on that shaking his head!

“So friends just do things like we did before?”

“Things, what things?” Again he tried to play dumb and he didn’t even knew why.

“Things like this!”

Fujigaya sat up on his knees putting his hands around Nikaido’s neck pulling him towards him. This time Fujigaya wouldn’t back off apologizing for his behavior like yesterday. This time he kissed him long and passionate. Nikaido could feel that his feelings were honest and so he made up his mind. He wanted to show him that he felt more than just friendship for him as well.

“Nika?” Fujigaya looked at him questioning after he had backed off and when Nikaido didn’t say anything, not even looking into his eyes he put down his hands from his neck. “I’m sorry. I know it might be kind of naïve from me to think that you would share my feelings, but I wanted to at least let you know!”

The older one smiled, a brief and disappointed smile and finally Nikaido could see that he was about to destroy everything he had built up in this short time just because he was overthinking everything too much.

Before he could catch up with his own movements he had taken Fujigaya’s face into his hands stopping him from turning away. He looked at him for a brief moment before kissing him, kissing him so passionate as if there would be no chance to kiss him ever again. He put all his feelings in this one kiss, all the feelings he wanted to tell him about before, but was too afraid to do so. When Fujigaya moved against his lips softly, putting his hands to his hair he knew that he didn’t have to feel ashamed of his own feelings.

Nikaido put is hands under his shirt stroking over his chest, exploring his body with his hands and feeling his shivers against his lips while kissing over his neck. It just felt too awesome to be true. Nikaido couldn’t think clear for this night anymore. Inside of him a huge firework out of emotions was filling up his body making him shiver against Fujigaya’s bar skin after they got rid of their shirts.

“Ow, don’t bite.” Nikaido complained when Fujigaya got a little bit overexcited.

“Sorry, but you just look so tasty.” He said with a smirk.

On that Nikaido pushed him carefully on the ground sitting on top of him.

“But you know you are not supposed to play with your food!” He whispered in his ear before kissing down his neck.

“Then maybe I prefer you as something I can play with!”

“What would that be?”

“It’s something really special or more someone special; you just have one exemplar of!”

“Oh so you mean I’m special to you?” Nikaido asked teasing.

“Maybe. If you can proof that you’re worth being my special someone.”

“Challenge accepted.”

Before Fujigaya could start talking nonsense again Nikaido shut him up with another kiss feeling how Fujigaya’s lips formed into a smile against his.

He didn’t just feel kind of happy about finally being able to confess his feelings and sharing them with Fujigaya, but he also felt something else he couldn’t explain. It was like he would get some kind of strength and energy while being so intimate with him for the first time.

 


	7. Unexplainable Feelings

 

 

„Come on you can do it. “

“If you don’t stop talking I won’t be able to do anything, except for getting annoyed by you.”

“That would be at least something.”

Nikaido was standing on a cliff around two meters below the training ground looking up at Fujigaya annoyed.

“If you’re telling me that I climbed down here just to climb up by myself again, because you can’t remember how you got this stupid weed moving the other day, I’m going to kill you!”

“I would like to see you try!” Fujigaya replied teasing.

“Isn’t that a little bit too dangerous what they are trying there?” Kentaro asked worried standing a few meters away next to Taiga observing the situation, which would be kind of funny, if there wouldn’t be a hundred of meters deep scarp right underneath his brother’s feet.

“But I think it’s really the only way for my brother to get control over his powers. The reason why Tegoshi and Massu can use their powers so well is exactly because they were in so many dangerous situations before, that there was the need to get control over them or they wouldn’t have survived. But even though they tried to teach this kind of control to my brother he is unfortunately a hopeless case.” Taiga shrugged his shoulders like it would be more than normal for him to talk like this about his brother which made Kentaro laugh.

“My brother is kind of the same. Even though I’m the phenomenist he tries all the time to help me with my powers, but sometimes he is making it worse than better. I learned more from Tegoshi in a few weeks than from him over the last years.”

“Our brothers are just awesome!” The sarcasm in Taiga’s voice made Kentaro burst out into laughter.

“Oh come on, how long do you want me to wait down here.”

“Shut up I have to concentrate!”

Of course the two older ones were still fighting while the younger ones just returned to the rest of the training group, which was practicing almost the same thing alongside the cliff a few hundred meters away, but not that dangerous.

“Even though you don’t feel anger, but the need to rescue someone you can move the rocks inside the cliff. If someone falls…”

Kentaro and Taiga had just arrived next to Senga and Wataru, when Tegoshi started to explain how to get into control of massive objects without anger.

But the moment Kentaro looked at Tegoshi again after waving Wataru a short hello he froze. Before he ended his sentence he pointed out at Massu who was standing right next to him and before someone could react he just jumped of the cliff.

"…this technique could safe someone’s life.” He ended his sentence while just stomping his foot to the ground. He didn’t even turn around; he just waited as everyone rushed past him including Kentaro looking down the cliff just to see a grinning Massu a few meters down the cliff standing on a new formed edge made by Tegoshi’s stomping.

“So you see, it’s really helpful when you can use your powers free and not just connected to some special objects or emotions.”

He had learnt much himself from Tegoshi and Massu, but he was still really impressed how good they could control their powers.

“So now each of you will try to form another edge so that Massu can walk up here again! Kishi you’ll start!”

Kishi seemed kind of nervous, but even though his edge was kind of small and seemed to crumble easily he was really happy that he was able to form it.

The next three steps were formed perfectly by Ryosuke, Hokuto and Keiichiro and Tegoshi just nodded knowing that for those three this was already a way too easy challenge.

“Come on Kentaro it’s your turn! It’s kind of windy down here don’t make me wait so long!” Massu shouted up to Kentaro, who looked a little bit surprised when even Tegoshi gave him the okay to try it.

First he wanted to argue that it would be too dangerous for him to try, but he knew that there was no other way to learn how to control his powers than trying it.

He closed his eyes and when he stomped on the ground a almost perfect shaped stabile step came out of the cliff.

“Woah, nice Kentaro! How did you do that?” It was Fuma who approached him looking down to the step completey amazed.

“I just imagined that it would be my brother standing down there.” Kentaro said kind of shy.

“I shouldn’t imagine that Kento is standing down there or I would let all the steps disappear by mistake.” He said chuckling making Kento glare at him.

“Just shut up and do it, if you even can.” Kento said with a challenging and teasing voice.

Those two were something like the chaos troop of the village. Even though Kento tried to play cool most of the time everyone could see that he cared way too much for Fuma. His tries to hide this behind a almost arrogant behavior were more than suspicious.

The problem was that Fuma always went a little bit overboard as well when it was about Kento. The moment Kento did something dangerous at the training he wouldn’t concentrate on his own powers anymore. So in the end he ended up hurting himself, because he didn’t pay enough attention to his powers and then again Kento freaked about his behavior. It was a huge doom loop around those two.

“Let’s make a bet, if my step is better than Kentaro’s you have to grant me a wish.”

Now he had drawn Kento’s interest. “Okay, fine. Let’s see what you can do.” He said with a lopsided smile.

“You’ll be surprised.” Fuma replied confident before turning around again stretching his legs like this would help him. “Here we go.”

Fuma stomped his foot to the ground so hard that everyone could feel the earth shaking beneath their feet.

But his motivation was maybe a little bit too much, because instead of a step he pushed all steps in once two meters to the front making Massu almost lose balance.

“Okay that would be an F for the task, but an A+ for the result.” Tegoshi said proud.

“Ha! Told you!” Fuma turned around to Kento putting his hands on his hips proud, but before Kento could reply anything there was a huge cracking noise.

“Oh no...”  Fuma didn’t even dare to turn knowing that this was no good sign and the moment another grumble ran through the rock Massu jumped up the already existing steps almost floating in the air.

“Massu, come on hurry!” It was Tegoshi shouting at him. He formed two more steps for him so that he could finally reach the top and the moment he grabbed Tegoshi’s outstretched arm Fuma’s formed cliff crumbled down the scrape, while everyone was looking after it.

“I would say you lost,” Kento added teasing after the rock had crushed to the ground.

“Oh no, really?” Fuma replied hitting him on the shoulder lightly.

Training was always dangerous everyone knew that, but it was always fascinating Kentaro how fast everyone was in a light mood again after something bad could have happened.

“So I would say we call it-“

There was another huge noise before Wataru could end his sentence and the moment they looked over the cliff a crack appeared cutting his way from the part where the rock had just cracked off northwards.

Kentaro was following the movement of the crack and when he looked along the cliff he froze when he realized where it was cutting its way to.

“NII-SAN, WATCH OUT!”

“TAISUKE!” Taiga had seen it the same moment that the crack was going straight for the cliff Nikaido was still standing on.

“Shit!” Massu and Tegoshi started running towards them so fast that Kentaro couldn’t catch up. But even though they were really fast they wouldn’t make it he was sure of that.

“Gaya, some help would be nice!” He heard his brother shouting, but Fujigaya had frozen as he looked at the closer coming crack turning pale.

“GAYA, NOW!” Nikaido reached out his hand to him knowing that there would be no way for him to reach it, but he didn’t know what else to do.

Kentaro saw how the crack reached the cliff and then his brother fell. He just stopped running ignoring all the shouting around him closing his eyes turning around. He couldn’t look, he was a phenomenist and even though he got trained now, he couldn’t safe his own brother. The tears had already filled up his eyes the first one threatening to run down his cheek.

“Kentaro!” He looked up at Taiga who was standing right in front of him. Taiga was looking behind him with wide eyes. He didn’t want to follow his gaze, but when he saw how Taiga formed a smile he didn’t understand the world anymore.

“You stupid asshole! If you scare me like this one more time I’m seriously going to kill you!”

On the sound of his brother’s voice he swirled around and what he saw was more than amazing.

Fujigaya had formed some kind of slide out of the rocks in the matter of seconds so that Nikaido would not just drop on a cliff after he fell, but would slide down the rocks for a few meters before coming to a hold.

“You prefer to fall then?” Fujigaya shouted back, hands still stretched out in front of him like he wasn’t sure if his construction would crumble if he took them away.

When Tegoshi and Massu finally arrived next to Fujigaya they took care of the rest. And that just in time, because Massu had to catch Fujigaya who lost conscious the moment Tegoshi had secured the whole cliff forming steps for Nikaido to reach the top.

Kentaro threw himself around his neck with so much force that his brother almost lost balance.

“Kentaro, it’s alright. Don’t worry!”

“I will always worry. Don’t you dare to leave me alone!” Kentaro hid his face on his brother’s shoulders, but Nikaido could still hear his sobs. He stroke over his hair carefully.

“Never, I promise!”

***

The cup in Nikaido’s hands got a small crack first, but then it just crumbled into little pieces.

“Ow, thank you Gaya now I cut myself!”

“Sorry.” Fujigaya didn’t even look at him. He didn’t really look at him at all since he had woken up again. Nikaido came over after a while asking Taiga if his brother was alright, but as he had expected he was completely out of it.

Taiga left them alone telling his brother he would go over to Kentaro wishing Nikaido good luck with turning his brother back into a normal mood.

“Don’t be sorry, as sorrier you are as more you will destroy something.”

Fujigaya just looked away guilty. Nikaido stood up walking around the table approaching him from behind. Fujigaya flinched when Nikaido put his arms around his shoulders from behind.

“Gaya listen! I’m not your younger brother. I don’t want you to freak out every time something might be dangerous, okay? This wouldn’t be good for either of us. I know it’s something really difficult I’m asking of you, but could you at least try to not feel too much for me?”

Fujigaya didn’t answer, he just sighed before grabbing the sleeves of Nikaido’s shirt. Nikaido didn’t need an answer, because there it was again, this feeling. Something he had never felt before like Fujigaya could transfer his emotions on him just by touching him. And what he felt right now was a good sign, he felt calm, finally. Forming a small smile Nikaido leant down to kiss Fujigaya on the head.

“I have the feeling that Taiga will stay over at my place tonight, why don’t I just bear you company  instead?” He felt a light chuckle against his arms where Fujigaya had buried his face.

“You are really bad with allusions you know that?” He said teasing before standing up grabbing Nikaido’s handto make him follow him through the room until they reached the bed. Fujigaya sat down and Nikaido didn’t wait to push him backwards sitting down on top of him stopping his fall just a few inches in front of his face.

“Hey, don’t be so impatient.” Fujigaya teased him while opening his shirt stroking over his chest with his fingers.

“Who is the impatient one here?”

With a kiss Nikaido shut him up before he could even reply something.

It didn’t take long until they were again exploring each other’s body already breathing hard to their long kisses.

“How far am I allowed to go?” Nikaido asked still sitting on top of Fujigaya who lifted an eyebrow at him.

“How far do you want to go?”

“As far as you let me!”

“Try and I’ll tell you when to stop!”

Nikaido took him by his words not hesitating at all before kissing him again stroking down his upper body until he had reached his crotch. He could feel how Fujigaya tensed a little bit as he pulled on his pants and Fujigaya lifted his hips to make it easeir to get rid of them. Nikaido lifted himself up just to get out of the rest of his clothes as well and as he leant in for another kiss and took Fujigaya's cock in his hands without any hesitation Fujigaya tensed a little bit again, but he didn’t complain and he wouldn’t stop if he wouldn’t tell him to.

Nikaido couldn’t explain from where he took his straight forward attitude. He never thought that he would be so controlling in such a situation and of all he never thought that he could feel such a craving for someone. So when Fujigaya was still not complaining Nikaido slid his hand down to his hole whispering into Fujigaya’s ear.

“Let me feel you!”

No answer, just Fujigaya’s hand on his cheek turning his face towards him. A brief smile than a long and passionate kiss. No complaining meant approving, so Nikaido pushed one pointer finger inside making him flinch a little bit. 

He knew that he had to go slow with this, but he kind of couldn’t resist his inner craving and he could feel that Fujigaya wanted him too desperate as well to leave room for hesitation. After he had already put in a third finger making Fujigaya moan so desperate that he had backed off, now kissing down his neck, he finally slipped them out sitting up looking in Fujigaya’s already exhausted face. He had closed his eyes breathing hard, but there was no sign of pain on his face.

“Last chance!”

No answer again. When Nikaido felt how Fujigaya moved his hips against his stretching out his legs he wouldn’t ask another time.

He pulled him against his body getting himself in a good position. When he finally pushed inside carefully Fujigaya grabbed the sheets letting out some mixture between a moan and a whimper. But even though Nikaido knew that he should slow down to not hurt him the way he moved his body under his to relax turned him on even more.

He grabbed Fujigaya’s hips as the older one had finally relaxed a little bit more and as Nikaido dared to move more Fujigaya's moans turned more pleasured with each stroke.

He could feel that this was not just his imagination, but that Fujigaya felt this special kind of something that he couldn’t describe with words between them as well when he pulled him down for a last passionate kiss before they both reached their climax.

Nikaido let himself drop next to Fujigaya closing his eyes for a moment just trying to get a hold of this feeling inside of him. When he touched Fujigaya it was there, when he kissed him it grew bigger and now it seemed like it had just become a part of him. He had never felt so alive, so special before.

“Gaya?” On the sound of Fujigaya’s light and rhythmic breathing Nikaido looked up at him finding him sleeping next to him.

Nikaido escaped a low chuckle before he pulled  the blanket over both of them cuddling himself against Fujigaya’s warm body.


	8. new hope

 

„HELP! MIYATA!“

When Nikaido woke up still holding Fujigaya in his arms he thought the voices were still from his dream, but somehow they didn’t fit. He dreamt calm and nice and the voices were loud and panicked.

“What happened? Senga? HEY SENGA, ANSWER!”

Nikaido needed a moment to get that he was really awake and that the voices he heard were real.

“Gaya wake up!”

“What? What happened?”

Nikaido woke him up really rough almost pushing him out the bed while he jumped up getting in his clothes realizing that something bad must have happened.

He didn’t wait for Fujigaya to catch up to him when he left the house. They must have slept over. But he guessed that Taiga and Kentaro made sure that they could have something like a day off.

The moment Nikaido rushed around a few houses aiming for the origin of the voices he stopped immediately as he saw Senga lying on the ground covered in blood and Wataru sitting next to him screaming out for him.

“Miyata please do something!”

Senga screamed out when Miyata turned him around, but he knew that there was no way to treat him, if he wouldn’t move him even if it would be painful.

“Miyata!”

“Wataru shut up!” Miyata pushed him away when he was more in his way than helping him.

“What happened?” By now most of the people were gathered and Tegoshi and Massu had pulled Wataru away, so that Miyata had more space to treat Senga’s deep wounds.

“Oh my god…” Fujigaya had rushed after Nikaido now stopping next to him looking at Senga as shocked as everyone else.

“They came out of nowhere. They didn’t even say anything, they just attacked!” Wataru finally said with a shaking voice not moving his eyes away from Senga, which didn’t scream anymore. He was barely breathing, but luckily Miyata had finally gotten some medical stuff, which Myuto had brought from his house as fast as possible. And when he had done some really impressive fast treatments on his wounds they finally stopped bleeding.

“It was just a routine patrol. We went northward’s, we wouldn’t have gone alone, if I would have known that…” Wataru’s voice broke. Miyata stood up leaving Senga in care of Myuto for a moment putting his hand on Wataru’s shoulder.

“Calm down, it's not your fault.” For a moment Miyata fell silent looking back at Senga. “But those wounds are not from a blade or a gun, what happened?”

“Phenomenists!?” It was Hokuto who spoke up when Wataru was still too out of it to answer right away. “You said you went northward’s. There are no realists up there. The only ones who fled to this direction were the phenomenists.”

“But why would they attack? Did they think you were realitists?” Ryosuke asked.

“They said nothing. They just attacked and then Senga was standing in front of me and before I even realized what was happening he was kind of ripped apart. I don’t even know how.” Wataru tried hard to not start crying, his voice was still shaking and he clenched his fists so much that his knuckles went white. “I threw one of our self-made bombs at them and even though I think that it didn’t kill them it gave us enough time to flee.”

Nikaido just stared at them for a moment, rage filling his body. How could Phenomenists do this to people, which supported them?

“Nika?” When he felt Fujigaya’s hand on his shoulder he relaxed a little bit again. He felt angry often, but this time it felt different. Somehow he thought that if he would freak out over this something could happen. He wasn’t sure what this ‘something’ was, he even felt kind of confused about this feeling. But that was also why he was happy about Fujigaya being there so this feeling was kind of resolving in itself the moment he put his hand on his shoulder.

“Why would they do this?” He asked Fujigaya in a low voice so that the others couldn’t hear it.

“You know in the beginning the first phenomenists were betrayed by so many humans that they had no choice, but to flee or to fight. The phenomenists here in this village all have a horrifying part like you and your brother. Who knows what happened to those who just attacked them.”

Nikaido wanted to respond something, but when he looked behind Wataru and the others over to the forest he froze when he saw three people walking out of the northern side of the forest.

“TEGOSHI! MASSU! BEHIND YOU!”

Those people were still so far away and there was no chance that they would hear them or even clearly see who they were, but they just attacked. So the moment Nikaido shouted at Tegoshi and Massu knowing that they would be their only chance of defense right now they had already realized the attack starting a counterattack.

While Ryosuke, Hokuto and Keiichiro jumped in front of the others to be something like a second defense wall, Fujigaya stepped in front of Nikaido obviously knowing that his brother would be safe with the others.

One of the strangers had formed a huge rock formation just by moving his hands and it was moving fast over the ground towards them. But before it could came closer Massu and Tegoshi had moved forward so fast that it seemed like they were not running, but floating on the wind or maybe they even did. The movements were too fast to see them clearly.

Tegoshi jumped up just to crash into the ground with his feet so hard that a huge crack appeared making the rock formation stop. Massu jumped over the cliff landing just a few meters away from the strangers, but the moment he wanted to start an attack they all lifted their arms.

“We give up!”

Obviously confused, but still not trusting the situation Massu stopped his attack keeping his arms raised in front of them.

“Why do you attack and then give up?” He shouted at them angry.

“We didn’t know you were phenomenists as well. Why would we attack you?”

“You attacked them earlier as well!” Tegoshi shouted at them as well jumping over the cliff landing next to Massu.

“We thought they would be realitists, it was our mistake!”

“Kento, what are you doing?”

Nikaido was so focused on the conversation between Tegoshi, Massu and the strangers that he needed a moment to realize that Kento had started moving towards them followed by a shouting Fuma. But even though he tried to hold him back Kento just shook his hand off walking straight for the strangers.

Tegoshi and Massu looked at each other for a moment not sure if they should let him through, but somehow everyone saw that he wouldn’t get stopped anyways.

He stopped right in front of one of the strangers. The one who stroke first and seemed to be the leader looked at him confused for a moment before his face changed.

“Eh? Kento?” Then the stranger started smiling. “Is it really you Kento?”

He wanted to put his hand on his shoulder, but before he could reach out for it, Kento had punched him straight in the face making him fall on his back looking at him with wide eyes.

“That was for leaving without telling me. Leaving me in a city full of people which tried to kill you and were about to kill me if I wouldn’t help finding you!”

“Kento I had no idea that you were still back there when I fled.” He sounded honest standing up again holding out his hands to his companions which had tensed the same way as Tegoshi and Massu on Kento’s attack.

“If I had known-“ The stranger started, but Kento interrupted him.

“Don’t give me that Shige! I gave you payback right now, even if one punch is not really equal to what I went through!”

Nikaido saw how Fuma tensed on this sentence. He seemed to keep his distance on purpose knowing that he might freak out and kill anyone around him, if they would lay a finger on Kento.

“Because of you a friend of mine is lying there dying!” He pointed to Senga who was still barely breathing and even though his bleeding had almost stopped Miyata wasn’t sure if it wasn’t already too late.

“Let me make up for it!” Shige said with such a bright smile that Nikaido wasn’t sure for a moment if this boy was kind of insane. How would you make up for someone you killed?

But then he went over to Senga and the others while Massu and Tegoshi were sticking to him and the other two boys not letting their guard down for a single second.

Shige kneeled down next to Senga and no one understood the world anymore for the next few seconds when Shige just bend down and kissed him.

Everyone froze and looked at them confused when Shige just stood up again walking up to Kento with a smile.

“So I made up for it!”

Kento tensed not knowing if he was just taking the piss out of him in the most horrible way he could imagine or if he was really serious. But then Shige stumbled and his two friends had to catch him. He seemed exhausted from one second to the other.

“Wataru?” On the sound of Senga’s voice everyone’s eyes fell back on him. Wataru rushed over to him taking his hand the moment he opened his eyes. “What happened? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, you are the one-“ But when Senga just sat up like he would just have woken up from a relaxing long sleep Wataru stopped talking, leaving his mouth open.

“What? Hey what are you doing?” Miyata was the one sitting down next to him getting all the bandages off him.

“They are gone. All the wounds are gone.” He said into the round looking from one confused face into the other.

“What did you do? HOW did you do that?” Kento stared at Shige disbelieving.

“With my powers of course. Didn’t you know that we can heal someone with it? If you train your powers enough you can easily heal wounds like this. Just be careful when someone is really about to die, because it could cost your own life, if you are not completely healthy yourself. You see that I already feel dizzy and I am in a quite good form and didn't use my powers too much just now."

Nikaido just ignored the rest of the conversation around him when he finally understood what was going on. That was why Massu could heal Tegoshi, but was so exhausted himself.

And if he put all the pieces together right there was even more to it. Something Shige and the other phenomenists around him couldn’t know, because there were no other humans around them.

“Nika where are we going, what’s wrong?” Nikaido just grabbed Fujigaya’s hand dragging him away from the scene making sure they wouldn’t get overheard at least not by the strangers. Now that he realized what was going on it would be dangerous if the wrong people would know about it. Even though they healed Senga and Shige seemed to be an old friend of Kento he couldn’t trust them like this.

“Gaya, listen!” He dragged him into the next storage building he could find shutting the door and talking in such a low voice that he had to lean so close to Fujigaya that he could feel his breathe on his skin.

“Now everything makes sense.” He started.

“What makes sense? What are talking about?”

“I didn’t tell you until now, because I wasn’t sure myself what was happening, but every time I was close to you, when we kissed or just touched each other I felt something, something I’ve never felt before. Until this morning it was still something I couldn’t explain, but it was nice.” He paused for a moment looking to the ground for a moment feeling how he was blushing even though it wasn't time for feeling embarrassed. “And after last night it was stronger than ever. But when the strangers appeared this feeling changed into something dangerous. If you wouldn’t have been next to me this morning this feeling would have gone overboard and something bad would have happened.”

“I can’t really follow.” Fujigaya admitted. “How can a feeling harm someone?”

“That’s the point! That’s what I didn’t get until just now!” He paused again looking at Fujigaya intensly, making sure that he would really listen to what he was about to say.

“It’s not a feeling, but your powers!”

Fujigaya’s eyes widened on his speculation or at least he wanted to believe that he was just guessing.

“Gaya you can transfer your powers to me over body contact.”

“That can’t be!” Fujigaya looked confused, almost kind of panicked, knowing what danger that would bring.

“But it’s just for some time. Now the feeling is gone again. As long as we were lying next to each other you must have kind of charged me up, but now I released all the power I got from you already.”

Fujigaya walked through the room ruffling through his hair sighing before turning around to Nikaido again.

“I’m not sure if I should be happy about this or scared. But one thing is for sure, if it’s not just me who can do this, but all the phenomenists this new ability could bring about a rebound.”


	9. morphing

„Please Fuma would you calm down?“

“No I won’t! Not before they are gone.” Fuma held in for a moment before whispering the next sentence to himself. “Or dead!”

“You don’t even know them.” Kento said seeming more than stressed out to Kentaro. He and Fuma were fighting for over half an hour by now, but none of them would just give in or walk away. For a moment they would just not talk to each other anymore and then it would start anew.

“You want to try?” Everyone turned to the door when Shige came inside the room where Kentaro and a few others were resting after the training.

Fuji and Kotaki were following him. If Kentaro got all this right those two were phenomenists which had been teaming up with Shige after he had left the city. But what he really wanted to know was what happened between him and Kento before. Fuma wanted to know even more, but Kento wouldn’t talk.

“Want to try what?” Fuma growled angry standing up to step in his way as he tried to walk over to Kento.

“Killing me? Want to try?” Shige was again smiling, even when Fuma grabbed him by the collar.

“I would love to!”

“Fuma, stop it!” It was Kento who interfered trying to keep them apart.

“Why are you always on his side?” Fuma asked looking at Kento with a mixture of anger and disappointment. “You were the one letting them in our village after what they did to Senga. You trust them blindly. Then tell us WHY!” The table next to them got a crack as Fuma screamed and kicked away a chair. The more Fuma rose his voice the more Kento seemed to retreat inside himself.

“Fuma I-“ Kento hesitated, looking to the ground for a moment.

“Just forget it, but don’t come running when something happens!” Fuma just shook off Kento’s hand when he tried to stop him glaring at him and then at Shige before leaving everyone behind.

“Wow you got yourself some nice companion there.” Shige put his hand on Kento’s shoulder and at that moment Taiga jumped up from his chair. But he had no time to interfere. Kento hit his hand away before Taiga could even say something.

“Just because I convinced everyone to give you shelter for some time doesn’t mean that everything is forgotten. Just stay out of my sight.” With that Kento left the room as well and Shige just shrugged his shoulders leaving to another direction with his companions.

Yasui looked back at Taiga, who was still standing in the middle of the room now looking down on the ground his hands clenched to fists.

***

“What happened between them?”

“What? Between whom?”

“Don’t play dumb! I saw your reaction earlier, you know something!” Kentaro stopped Taiga when they were on their patrol later that day.

For a moment Taiga remained silent biting his lip. But Yasui wouldn’t let him off so easily. Kento and Fuma grew to be good friends to him as well and he wanted to know what was going on so he could help, if possible.

“Taiga, please!”

“Come with me.” Sighing Taiga gave up signaling Kentaro to follow him deeper into the forest.

“Can you feel, if someone is near?”

Kentaro closed his eyes when they stopped again trying to focus the way Tegoshi taught him before. Knowing that his own powers were even able to track movements not just of people, but also of animals, trees and water was amazing. But he was still not familiar with all his new powers knowing that it would take more than a few weeks to master them the way Tegoshi and Massu did.

“I can’t feel anything so I guess we are alone. At least here around the next few hundred meters.”

Taiga just nodded obviously searching for the right words.

“What I am to tell you about now is something you should really tell no one! I shouldn’t tell you in the first place, but maybe the reason that I want to tell you is that it might takes some weight off me. Sharing a burden always makes it lighter.”

Kentaro already didn’t like the start of this story, but he wanted to know so he would listen whatever Taiga would say next.

***

For the rest of the day Kentaro couldn’t help but stare at Kento, who was still running after Fuma trying to make him talk to him again, unsuccessful as it seemed.

Kentaro couldn’t understand how someone could keep up faith like that. He got betrayed in a way no one could even imagine, betrayed in a way that Kentaro kept himself from even thinking about after Taiga had told him.

Now he understood why Taiga said it was nice to share this knowledge and that Kento needed someone to share it as well.

He doubted that Fuma knew the whole story. Maybe he knew some parts, but Shige wouldn’t be alive anymore, if he would know everything and Kentaro knew better as telling him.

“Hey what’s up? You look kind of down, did something happen?” It was his brother sitting down next to him ruffling through his hair with a smile.

“No not really, I was just lost in my thoughts a little bit.”

“Mhh…” He knew exactly that his brother didn’t believe him, but he also knew that e wouldn’t ask and he was thankful for that.

“Nii-san?” Kentaro put his head on his brother’s shoulder looking around the village while they were sitting in front of their house.

“What is it?” Nikaido asked putting an arm around his brother’s shoulder.

Tegoshi and Massu were making fun of Kishi’s poor powers while he tried to form some rock formation. Even Ryosuke, Hokuto and Keiichiro seemed kind of amused and in a good mood what was nice as they were normally a little bit too stiff and quiet.

Myuto and Aran were teasing Wataru, because even though they were the younger ones their fighting was way better than his.

Sure they were all kind of tense especially when Shige, Kotaki and Fuji were around, no one seemed to trust them completely just waiting for them to leave and this is what they wanted to do tomorrow, but they all tried to not let the tension show too much.

“I’m so happy that you are by my side!” Kentaro said finally smiling. He wasn’t looking at his brother, but he could feel that he was smiling too while he tightened his grip around his shoulder.

“And I promise I will never leave your side again.” With that Nikaido gave Kentaro a short kiss on his hair making him squeal out of embarrassment.

***

“I’m just bringing in the rest of the rice. I’ll come over to your house in a second.” Kentaro called out to Taiga after they finished the farm work for today.

Kentaro went over to the closest storage room while Taiga already went home where he wanted to meet up with him and a few others later. The moment Kentaro had put the rice down he heard how the door of the storage room closed behind him. When he turned around he saw Shige standing right in front of him smiling as always, Fuji and Kotaki right behind him leaning against the closed door.

“You want something?” Kentaro tried to keep calm. He didn’t like them. Especially Shige was not really good company. In this point he agreed with Fuma, if he wouldn’t watch out he might kill him by accident.

“Oh nothing special, we just wanted to talk to you in private.” Shige replied shrugging his shoulders.

“About what?”

“About us leaving and the possibility of you joining us?”

“What? Why should I?” The question would have made him laugh if he wouldn’t see the serious faces of them right in front of him.

Shige approached him putting his hand on his shoulder on which Kentaro tensed.

“We are leaving for the city, but I guess you already know that. We will need as many skilled phenomenists in our fight as possible. To be honest we asked a few others before as well.”

“And what did they say?”

Shige didn’t answer for a moment, he just smiled again.

“I will tell you after you give me your answer. I don’t want to influence you through their answers you know.”

On that Kentaro escaped a chuckle.

“Did I say something funny?” Shige asked raising an eyebrow at him instantly changing his face into a serious expression.

“No and no! This was not funny and no I won’t join you. So if you would excuse me!” Kentaro knew that it was risky to be that straight forward, but he was about to make the earth shake, so he knew he had to leave or even with Tegoshi’s good training he would destroy the storage room. He was so angry at their arrogant behavior.

They ran away from the city right in the beginning and now they want to go back there fighting against something they don’t really know. He had lived there long enough, hidden in the shadows trying to survive with his brother, he would not be so stupid to go back there and fight again after the biggest war the world had ever seen has finally ended. He didn’t think that there would be people left, which still wanted to fight, but they were standing right in front of him and it made him more than angry.

“Would you move aside please?” Kentaro had passed Shige and Fuji now standing in front of Kotaki, who was blocking the door.

Kotaki looked at Shige not sure what to do. Kentaro could see that those two were not the same as Shige, they were just following him maybe not knowing where to go and what to do in this destroyed world without someone like him leading them.

“By the way…” Shige approached him from behind putting his arm over his shoulder half around his throat. He leant down so that he could feel his breath against his face. “You were the last one we wanted to ask and you just gave us the same answer as everyone else.”

He didn’t say anything else, he just backed off telling Kotaki to let him out. Kentaro wasn’t sure what this feeling was, but even though he was happy to be outside again leaving them behind while rushing over to Taiga’s house there was something worrying him. Sure he didn’t like them and they just prove again that there was a reason for that, but there was something else he sensed about Shige, maybe something even more dangerous than he thought.

“What took you so long?” Taiga was waiting in front of his house with Kishi, Aran and Myuto sitting on the step of his door.

“Sorry, I just had to take care of something and-“

There was a huge earthquake coming out of nowhere interrupting Kentaro. What followed was something he would never have thought of. A huge fire wall just rose up in the middle of the village.

“What the hell?” Kishi and the others jumped up while Taiga had already started running.

“The storage!”

Kentaro needed a moment to get what was going on. The storage was burning, the storage he was inside before with Shige and the others. The moment he realized what was going on Taiga disappeared out of his sight between the buildings on his way to the storage.

“NO, TAIGA STOP!” Kentaro rushed past everyone, but he was too late. He was about to rush around a corner when another fire blast missed him just by inches. But he wasn’t the aim, the aim was everyone who came in their reach and it was Taiga who reached the storage first.

He heard him scream out the moment the fire blast hit him. He didn’t want to look around the corner, but when Kishi and the others caught up with him he knew that at least they were in superior number.

He discussed a short and exact plan with them before they split up and attacked from different directions.

When Kentaro ran around the corner he was more than relieved to see that Taiga was still alive, sitting on the ground holding on to his arm which seemed badly burned.

When Shige saw him he tried to hit him with another fire blast, but he was faster. He jumped in front of Taiga forming a huge stone wall in front of them.

“Watch out!” It was Shige sending Fuji and Kotaki out to fight Kishi, Aran and Myuto which came from different directions.

Kentaro knew that this was his only chance to attack, because Shige must be out of power for the next minutes and the other two were distracted. His own powers would barely last for one attack, but he had to try it.

He left Taiga behind the wall and dashed forward right at Shige. While running he let the earth crumble under Shige’s feet so he would lose balance and then there was his chance. Shige was distracted and Kentaro concentrated on forming his own fire. It was hard and took much energy out of his body, but thanks to Massu he learnt how to form at least one fire blast.

He shot it direct at Shige and he knew there was no time for him to escape the attack anymore. Then it hit! But to his disbelieve it didn’t hit Shige, but someone who had jumped in front of him, but his companions were still fighting with the others and most of the others like his brother were out for patrolling.

When the fire dissolved Kentaro was staring at a burned back of someone leaning against Shige’s chest.

“Why did you do that?” It was Shige who spoke first, catching his protector when he slid to the ground no longer able to stand. “Kento, why did you protect me?”

The others had stopped fighting looking at them in shock as they realized what had happened.

“Even though you turned your back on me back then doesn’t mean that our past is erased. There was a time when you would have done the same for me or maybe you still would.” Kento’s voice was low and only Shige and Kentaro could hear him.

Then there was a huge impact together with a strong wind and Massu and Tegoshi were standing right in their middle out of nowhere. So they really hadn't taught them all about their powers until now. Massu had pulled Shige away from Kento holding a knife to his throat, which wouldn’t even be necessary judging on Shige’s pale skin color and horrified look at Kento.

“Kento, can you hear me?” Tegoshi leant down to him examining his wounds on his back. Kento was barely conscious, his face was twisted in pain.

While the others were still concentrating on Shige's companions, not sure if they would continue fighting, Kentaro turned away from Kento rushing back to Taiga.He had no time to break down now. He knew that it was Kento's decision to jump in between their attacks, but Kentaro felt guilty anyways. For now he had to take care of Taiga knowing that he couldn't help Kento even if he wanted to, his attack had weakened his body too much already.

“KENTO!” After Kentaro had helped Taiga up and turned around again he saw how Fuma came running out of the forest followed by Wataru and Senga.

He almost crushed into Tegoshi when he kneeled down next to Kento.

“What happened? Kento? Come on talk to me!” Fuma’s voice was between the urge to scream and the try to keep calm for Kento’s sake as well.

“Fuma I’m sorry. I know you can’t understand all this or maybe you just don’t want to, but-“ Kento’s voice got weaker with every word. “But there are a few things you have to protect in your life even though you thought you can let go.”

“You are right!” With that Fuma let go of Kento and stood up. Kento tried to hold on to him, but he just shook off his hand. “That’s why I will protect you!”

Fuma turned around to Shige, who was still staring at Kento not even realizing that Fuma approached him.

“Fuma stay back!” Massu tried to calm him down, dragging Shige back with him.

When Shige opened a crack so that Massu lost balance for a moment he kicked him away while Fuma was lunging out for a punch. A punch Kentaro knew quite well and it hit right on Shige’s chest making him scream out in pain. This was no normal punch, it was a punch which had air power around it. It would drill its way through any obstacle. You couldn’t see it, but it was able to damage something inside of any material. So even though Shige’s chest seemed undamaged from the outside, it was different for the inside.

Fuma almost lost balance as he stepped back looking at Shige. Shige would have been able to stop the attack, but Kentaro was sure that he let Fuma’s attack hit on purpose. Maybe the bond he shared with Kento all the time was stronger than they all thought. The shock about what happened to Kento, because of his behavior made him maybe realize that he couldn’t continue like this. He smiled at Fuma even though the pain was visible on his face.

“I’m so sorry, Kento!” With those last words he collapsed to the ground.

Fuji and Kotaki still didn’t move, they were just looking at Shige’s body with a horrified look. Maybe Kentaro was right, they were just followers so with their leader gone they had no reason for another fight anymore.

“Kento? Kento wake up.” it was Tegoshi who finally made everyone stop staring at Shige’s dead body at Fuma’s feet. Fuma span around trying to rush over to him without losing balance.

“KENTO! HEY KENTO!” Fuma pushed Tegoshi away and almost fell down next to Kento instead of sitting down. He clenched his fists into his shirt shaking him.

“No, please Kento!” Taiga whispered next to Kentaro, while everyone was just staring at him.

Fuma stroke over his cheek and rested his hand on it. “You’re right, maybe I don’t understand what happened back there and maybe I don’t understand why you did something stupid like this, but there is one thing that I understand.” Fuma said while the tears filled up his eyes and he tried hard to stop his voice from shaking. “I understand that there is something you want to protect so much, that you would give your life for it!”

Fuma smiled and stroke over Kento’s hair before leaning down to him putting his lips on his.

“FUMA, NO!” Tegoshi reached out for him, but the moment he tried to pull him away from Kento he had to catch him when he fell backwards into his arms.

“You stupid idiot!” Tegoshi clenched his fists into Fuma’s sleeves, shaking his shoulders. “We would have found another way. Why do you always have to be so hasty with your decisions?”

The first tear escaped Tegoshi’s eye while he hold on to Fuma knowing that there would have been no other way to save him. Kento’s wounds were too deep, he would have died. Even though Fuma knew that taking his wounds on him while he had just used a technique, which brought him to the verge of death before while training it, would definitely take his own life, he chose Kento’s life over his own.

They still didn’t know much about the healing powers, but now they learned how dangerous they could be. Maybe someone else could have saved Kento without giving his life, but maybe it wouldn’t have worked. There was no time for speculations anymore.

Everyone kept staring, but no one really dared to move. Kento’s wounds had healed at least enough so that he would be fine after a while, but he was still unconscious and everyone was more than glad about that. One of his past best friends which he just protected with his life was just killed by the person who cared most for him in this world. And then exactly this person saved his life by giving his own. That would be something Kento had to face from now on, but not today, not like this.

Kentaro didn’t know where to look or what to do. That seemed the same for everyone. At least he was sure that the fighting was over. Fuji and Kotaki had moved over to Shige’s body. Massu was still watching them, but he didn’t interfere when they lifted him up.

Wataru had stepped next to Tegoshi putting his hand on his shoulder. He didn’t want to let go of Fuma’s body. Senga and Wataru had to almost rip Fuma out of his grip.

Kentaro felt Taiga’s fingers digging into his arm as he tried to not let show how shocked he was about what had just happened to his friends.

“Taiga, we have to bring you to Miyata. He has to treat your arm!” Kentaro faced Taiga for a short moment, who just nodded, but not taking his eyes of the scene.

It felt like watching some movie, like everyone would be just spectators of a scene they would normally just stop, but they couldn’t. Now that reality caught up with Kentaro as well he felt how the first tear escaped his eye.

He stared at Fuma’s body in disbelieve when Senga had stepped forward to lift him up. He couldn’t believe that he would never see him laugh again, never watch him fight with Kento over some unimportant little thing for the 100th time or just get totally hyper over food like it would be some magical substance. Even though he saw his pale skin, his expressionless face and the fact that his presence was really gone he could not believe it and he didn’t want to imagine what kind of horror Kento had to face when he would wake up again.

 

 


	10. survivor

 

„Did you hear that? “ Nikaido asked while he was helping Fujigaya up on a rock overhang from where they wanted to check the southern border. “It sounded like someone used a huge attack with his powers.”

After Nikaido had pulled him up on the cliff he looked back to the village worried before he got hit on the back of his head from Fujigaya. But it was already too far away to make out what was going on anyways.

“Of course there would be some fighting sounds. Or what do you think our training sounds like all the time? That’s exactly why we check the bonders. If they patrol around here and hear something they would easily track us down. So we have to be faster.” Fujigaya gave him a small wink before he walked off to the other side of the cliff.

“You seem in some kind of teasing mood today!” Nikaido whispered into Fujigaya’s ear after he had caught up with him grasping his waist pulling him against his chest.

“Says the right one!” Fujigaya tried to turn around, but Nikaido wouldn’t let him, kissing down his neck making him giggle.

The next moment Fujigaya found himself pushed to the ground. Not really careful and so sudden that helost orientation for a moment.

“What was th-“Fujigaya wanted to scold him, but Nikaido put his hand over his mouth lying flat on the rock next to him pointing down to one of the lower cliffs.

When Fujigaya turned around to look what he was pointing at he finally got why he had thrown both of them to the ground like this. Realitists!

Two men around the same age as them. They climbed up the cliff coming more and more towards their direction. Nikaido signalized him to crawl backwards and then they finally found some rocks where they could hide just in time before the realitists had climbed up to their cliff.

“It must definitely come from this direction!” One of them said. “It was a really huge impact and I guess it won’t be the last one.”

“Did they hear the training noises as well?” Fujigaya asked in a low voice.

“Who wouldn’t have heard that? The better question is, why didn’t you realize that there were people next to us?” Nikaido asked in an angry voice.

“Oh sorry, you know some idiot distracted me!”

“Or we just follow the smoke over there!” The other one said making Fujigaya and Nikaido look at each other panicked. Smoke? Nikaido had just looked back for a few seconds he didn’t see smoke, but when it really came from their village they would find it in no time.

“We have to stop them!” Nikaido whispered when the strangers where climbing down the cliff again.

“But we were told to report and not to fight.” Fujigaya replied visible nervous.

“There is no way we could be back at the village faster as them! And when there is really something going on in the village right now they wouldn’t be of big help anyways!” Nikaido was already rising up pulling out his sword which he carried with him on patrol, when Fujigaya grabbed his wrist.

“If we fight, we fight together!” First Nikaido didn’t really get what he meant. It was for sure that they were fighting together, but when Fujigaya pulled him into a kiss he smiled against his lips. He could feel how Fujigaya’s powers were flowing inside his body and even though he didn’t want to he pushed him away after a while knowing that it would weaken him too much if he transferred too much of his powers.

“Let’s go!” Nikaido said with a confident smile and got a lopsided smile from Fujigaya in response.

“Don’t get too overconfident just because you got some new powers now.” He teased before they just jumped off the almost 10 meter high cliff landing perfectly safe with a wind slide in front of the realitists.

They were so surprised by their sudden appearance that they couldn’t even grab their weapons before they just wrapped them up with some plants.

“Okay that was easier than I expected.” Fujigaya admitted hands on his hips looking amused at the screaming and cursing realitists which were hanging upside down a tree.

“Yes it really was!” Nikaido looked at Fujigaya, but he looked as confused as himself. He wasn’t the one answering, but even though they had realized that something was wrong it was already too late when they swirled around.

Nikaido reacted fast enough to pull an earth wall out of the ground in front of them when they saw two other realitists standing right behind them, but when he wanted to use it as a weapon trying to push it forward it crumbled and he almost fell to his knees feeling the exhaustion of his body. He was good in using Fujigaya’s powers, maybe better than himself, but his body wasn’t used to this.

“Nika!” Fujigaya jumped in front of him, but before he could even try to think of an attack he stopped moving when one of the realitists pointed a gun at him.

Guns were more than rare after the war. Japan was completely locked up. There was no way in or out. Not for people or for any kind of goods and even though the city was at least built up a little bit after the war surrounded by high fences and protected by the rest of what was left from the self-defense force, there were no supplies left to create new munitions.

“Trust me I shoot faster than you can attack. I’ve seen many phenomenists and you seem to really suck.”

Hard to admit, but he was right and Fujigaya knew that and now that Nikaido was out of his powers as well it would be difficult to attack without putting him in danger as well. He cursed himself for not realizing that there were more than just two people, his sensing powers seemed to work almost as bad as his anger.

“But there is something really funny about you two!” The other one said walking past the smaller one approaching them.

“When a phenomenist is out of power he collapses, but his creations don’t. So why did the earth wall just crumble?” He asked curious with a raised eyebrow at Nikaido.

“Maybe you just didn’t know as much as you thought!” Fujigaya growled angry, still standing in front of Nikaido.

“And I guess you won’t just tell us about it, right?” The smaller one said.

He didn’t even wait for an answer. Before either of them could react he shot Fujigaya in the shoulder, he stumbled backwards screaming out holding it in pain.

Nikaido jumped up getting a grip on his sword rushing past Fujigaya trying to aim for the taller one right in front of them hoping that the other one wouldn’t fire when his partner was in his way. But it took just a few strikes before the taller one got a grip on Nikaido’s wrist and got the sword out of his hand with a painful twist. He was strong, way stronger than Nikaido even though he had trained so much in the village for weeks now. He was sure that those two were not just scouts like the other ones which were still hanging over them in the trees, but backup trained for combat if they would get attacked by phenomenists.

“NIKA!” Fujigaya was kneeling with one hand on his shoulder shouting at him. But the smaller one had walked around the fighting two now standing in front of him pointing with the gun at him again.

“I wouldn’t try to interfere.” He said with an evil and triumphing smile.

Nikaido had tried to fight the other one with his learned martial arts, but he stood no chance at all.

Every time he tried to lung out for a punch his attacks went into nothing and when he tried to block an attack it felt like he got hit by an iron bar and not by a leg. He got a kick into his stomach and before he could even try to fill his lungs with air again the other one had spun around and put a hard kick against his head. Even though Nikaido was fast enough to get his arms up in protection the kick was so hard that it crushed him to the ground not able to stand up again. He could still hear Fujigaya’s screaming, but everything was spinning and he had not enough strength to keep fighting.

“So I guess we got ourselves some good research objects here”, the taller one said giggling stroking over Nikaido’s hair. He tried to hit his hand away, but his strength wouldn’t even last for that.

“Hey Tama stop playing around, if we don’t hurry there might be other phenomenists coming after us.” The smaller one scolded him.

“Don’t be poor sports Kato, it’s not that often that we find some interesting people like this!” Tamamori lifted Nikaido up in a standing position taking his sword to hold it behind his back.

“So just that you know that it is there, not that you try something stupid.”

Even if he said so Nikaido was happy that he could at least stand, trying to attack was not really an option right now.

“So and what are we going to do about you?” Kato went around Fujigaya who was still sitting on the ground. Fujigaya looked up at Nikaido worried. They both knew that they had more than messed up. But now there was not the time to think of an escape plan, but of a survival plan.

Nikaido wanted to shout something that was the last thing Fujigaya was sure of when he saw how Nikaido’s eyes widened when he looked at Kato. But his voice didn’t reach him anymore. He felt a dull pain at the back of his head before he blacked out.

“GAYA!” Nikaido tried to free himself the moment he saw that Kato had turned the gun around aiming with it for Fujigaya, but it was already too late.

“Ups, maybe a little bit too hard. But he seems too dangerous to take him with us when he is conscious!” Kato explained with raised arms at his side like he wouldn’t even know what he just did. He lifted Fujigaya from the ground and threw him over his shoulder.

“Off we go!” Nikaido anger would have ripped everything around them into pieces if he would have been a phenomenist. He was sure that he would have enough control over his powers to crush those guys without them even realizing what was going on. But he needed Fujigaya to get powers and his body was still not used to the strain.

But he hoped that wherever they were taking them and whatever they wanted to try out with them as their “research objects” that there would be the chance to get some of Fujigaya’s powers again.

Even though the other two, which they had released from their tree prison had seen his powers as well, they also didn’t know how he got them and why they were gone now.

So there was a chance to take them by surprise later. For now the most important thing was to survive, to survive again in the city he turned his back on to protect his brother. Now he had to go back to protect Fujigaya.


	11. The City

 

„Gaya! Gaya can you hear me?“ Fujigaya woke up with the ultimate headache, needing a moment to get his orientation back. As he tried to get up he breathed in sharp realizing that the wound on his shoulder was still not healed. Normally a smaller or not life threatening wound would heal way faster than it does by humans, but this time something felt weird.

“Nika? What happened, where are we? How long was I out?” He looked around realizing that there was something in between him and Nika. It seemed like glass just a little more lactic. He was sitting in some kind of room out of this glass while Nika was sitting at the outside.

“We are in the city. They brought us to some kind of laboratory it seems. After they had brought us out the moutnains they brought us back to the city with a truck.” Nika looked down to the ground sitting in front of Fujigaya’s cell like a small kid which lost all hope.

“A truck? They still have fuel?”

“It seems like it, I`ve never seen more than maybe two or three trucks in the city, I`m not sure how much resorces tehy have left.”

Fujigaya tried to focus on his conversation, but he realized that he was turning away his face the whole time like he didn`t want him to see something.

“Nika, what is it?”

“Nothing!”

“Nika, this is not the time for secrets!”

Nikaido sighed turning around to him and a bleeding wound on the side of his head got visible to Fujigaya.

“Oh god Nika, what happend?” Fujigaya jumped up trying to break the cell and even though the cell was putting much pressure on his powers, the earth started shaking.

“Gaya, stop! If you use your powers in there you will definitely die!” Nikaido jumped up trying to calm him down. “I knew that you would freak, so I said nothing. Through the cell you were out for two days since we arrived here and I- Let`s say I freaked a little bit as they put you in this thing, so they knocked me out for some time.”

Fujigaya nodded understanding, trying to calm down again as he realized that he already felt exhausted, just by the use of such a small amount of power. Instead of continuing to ask him questions he touched the wall in between them curious.

“You said I could die using my powers inside here, why? What is that?” it was a hard material, but it was definitely no glass. He tried to kick against it, but it didn’t even get a crack.

“It’s crytalile.” Nikaido said finally standing up to put his hand against it.

“You are kidding me, right?” Fujigaya stared at him in shock. Just a few months before the world war started Japan had found a way to melt crystals and form them into new shape. This new material was called crytalile, it was almost indestructible.

“I saw them using it before to capture phenomenists. It might also be the reason why your wound is still not healed.” Nikaido walked away from it going through the laboratory in which he was standing in. “I searched already every corner of this room, but there is no exit. The door is locked and I found nothing that I could use as a weapon either.

“And what is this?” Fujigaya took something from the ground inside the cell. It was some kind of small sharp metal pipe.

“I tried to break the cell and discovered something even more disturbing about this material.” He walked over to a table taking some small nail and some small heavy box from it.

“You can destroy the crytalile for a few seconds, but just from one side and it will restore itself.”

He put the nail against the wall of the cell and hit it with the box. The nail went through the wall, but without a crack. It went through like the wall would be out of butter. There was a rainbow colored glow on the glass were the nail just went through and then in the matter of a second the small hole was gone.

“How?” Fujigaya lifted up the nail and tried the same from the inside with the nail and the pipe, but it didn’t work.

“I guessed that it won’t work from the inside and it doesn’t work when I try to break it myself. I’m not sure if it is just possible with small sharp objects or how the hell they even made this possible, but I have no idea how to get you out of there.”

They looked at each other for a moment knowing that this won’t be their only problem.

“Did you see it?” Fujigaya asked in a low voice. “The city I mean.”

Nikaido tried to pull a straight face, but Fujigaya could see the pain behind it. “It is even worse than when we left. It feels horrible being brought back to a place from which we fled, risking our lives.”

“Nika, it will be alright!” Fujigaya took a step forward putting his hand to the wall as he saw that the tears glittering in Nikaido’s eyes. “We will get out of here and go back to the village.”

Fujigaya let out a small chuckle making Nikaido look up at him confused.

“Sorry, you know I just imagined how our little brothers have to take care of themselves without us. Taiga might be able to cook and stuff, but put him into the fields and he will kill himself trying to cut the rice.”

Now Nikaido let out a chuckle as well knowing exactly what he was talking about. It was the same with Kentaro. On the thought how he would try to live by himself he had to smile.

“We definitely have to go back or they won’t make it for more than a week.” Nikaido said smiling and Fujigaya nodded in approval.

“Where do you want to make it back to?” On the sound of Kato’s voice both of them flinched spinning around to the door. Kato and Tamamori had come into the laboratory unnoticed. Nikaido saw how Tamamori just closed the door without any kind of key. So there was someone opening it from the outside, attacking him would not help them escape. They wouldn’t give away the position of their village, but of course Kato and Tamamori knew that as well.

“Okay so I guess asking you about that don’t make any kind of sense.” Kato said, approaching Nikaido, which made a few steps backwards out of reflex.

“Oh and not to forget.” Tamamori added moving around Fujigaya’s cell. “There is also this one little secret about your powers, which we are really interested in, but I guess you won’t just tell you how a human got your powers and how they just disappeared like this afterwards again, right?”

Fujigaya just stared at him. If he could he would just drop some huge stone on him, but apart from the fact that his anger powers were still kind of not there, they wouldn’t work in this stupid cell anyways. Or more like they would work, but wouldn’t reach them.

“But maybe you have some motivation to answer when there is some price…” Kato started and when he turned around, he saw how he pulled out a gun and pointed it at Nikaido. “Like his life!?”

For a moment Fujigaya looked from Kato to Nikaido not knowing what to do, when his eyes stopped on Nikaido. His expression told him not to say anything regarding their ability to transfer his powers. He knew that it would be too dangerous, if the realitists would know about it, but what was he supposed to do? He wouldn’t just let him die. He could feel how his powers tried to break free against his will and against the pressure of the crytalile.

“Or maybe your own life is more precious to you?” Tamamori added and this time it was Nikaido who’s eyes got wide in panic, when he looked past Fujigaya to Tamamori who was standing on the other side of the cell.

But before Fujigaya could turn around he heard a gunshot and felt a sharp pain in his shoulder making him go down on his knees with a painful expression.

“GAYA!” Nikaido fell quiet when he realized that the bullet went not just through the crytalile and hit Gaya on the shoulder, but also just brushed his shoulder and hit the cell wall just in front of his face. It would have hit him directly, if the wall wouldn’t be impenetrably.

“Tama you are really mean, this is the second gunshot already. Next time take at least the other shoulder!” Kato said ironic. “So, someone of you in talking mood now?”

He took another step towards Nikaido so that he was in his reach and even though Nikaido couldn’t explain how he was still able to think about self defense in a moment like this, Nikaido had twisted the gun out of his hand kicking him away now pointing it at him.

“Let him out!” He said with a movement of his head towards Fujigaya who was still sitting on the ground holding on to his shoulder.

But when Tamamori just started laughing walking slowly around the cell Nikaido wasn’t sure if he didn’t care for Kato’s life or if he thought Nikaido wouldn’t shoot. But he would, his hands were shaking and his heart was beating way too fast, but he knew that it was their only way out.

“Stop!” Nikaido demanded when Tamamori had almost reached him. Now he pointed the gun at Tamamori taking a few steps away from both of them.

When Tamamori just lifted his gun like he wouldn’t be bothered by Nikaido threatening his life, he shot. There was the sound of a gunshot, one shot! But Nikaido had pulled the trigger as well.

“NIKA, NO!” Nikaido needed a moment to realize what had happened when Fujigaya screamed out for him. He had pulled the trigger, but there was no bullet in his gun. But there was one in the other one and it had hit its goal.

“Are you kidding me?” Nikaido said kind of sarcastic, letting the gun drop before going down on his knees trying to locate the pain inside his body. It felt like it would be everywhere. His whole body felt heavy and hot, but there was this one spot he had reached with his hands on his stomach where the pain's source was located. It felt like something had ripped him apart from the inside.

While Fujigaya was still shouting out for him, Kato had approached him laughing, crouching next to him, while Tamamori remained at the same spot with a satisfied look on his face.

“Did you really think I would be so stupid and come close to you with a loaded gun?” Kato asked him in a low voice stroking over his cheek with his hand.

“Don’t touch him!” Fujigaya screamed at him finally back on his feet, punching against the crytalile and creating a huge tornado inside of his cell. He could feel that this tornado wasn’t created by his anger, but by his worry for Nikaido, but he didn’t care. He tried to make it bigger and rip this cell apart, but as expected it wouldn’t work and after a while he went down on his knees again. His body couldn’t keep up with his emotions and the crytalile made it double as hard to use his powers. If he would overdo it, he would definitely die that was for sure.

“Oh so that is your relationship?” Tamamori teased, walking over to Nikaido as well. “Maybe we found the answer to your power transfer then. Let’s try it out!”

He and Kato lifted Nikaido up making him gasp in pain. When Tamamori drew a short sword out of its shelf which was hidden under his jacket on the back and sliced through the cell wall Fujigaya tried to crawl back. He knew that he couldn’t fight back, not right now. He would need more time to restore his powers, but it came different than he expected.

Before the slit could close itself again Tamamori opened it up with his hand, like the crytalile would be out of paper. If Fujigaya would have had enough power left he could have gotten himself and Nikaido out, but even though he cursed himself in silence for his weakness he knew that there was no way to attack.

After Tamamori had opened the slit almost to the ground and the rainbow colored crystal molecules were already trying to close the crack again they threw Nikaido inside. He hit the ground with a small scream turning on his back, desperately pressing his hands against his bleeding wound. Fujigaya rushed over to him, he had reached him the moment the wall had restored itself again, leaving Tamamori and Kato at the outside.

But for now he didn’t care for them. Fujigaya ripped off the sleeve of his shirt pressing it against Nikaido's wound, but the blood was still dropping to the ground. As Nikaido tried to turn awa from him, Fujigaya wanted to turn him on his back again. All he needed was one kiss, even if would give away their secret. Not just the one about the powers, but also about the healing. Powers the realitists didn’t even know existed, but he wouldn’t let him die here just to keep a secret.

“Gaya, no!” Nikaido stretched out one hand, grabbing Fujigaya’s shirt to hold him up. “You are still too weak. If you do this you will probably die.”

“But-“

“No but! There is no sense in exchanging life! I’m the one dying here and I won’t let you take my place.”

Fujigaya wanted to argue, but before he even took the next breath, everyone turned to the door when they heard screams from the outside. Tamamori had taken his sword in front of him, showing that the gun was probably empty. Kato drew a long knife from under his jacket approaching the door carefully.

But before he could reach the interphone on the wall to ask what was happening outside there was a huge impact on the door, making him jump back. The second impact threw the door at him and he could barely jump away.

The door crashed into the crytalile wall, but of course it didn’t break. Everything happened so fast that Fujigaya needed a moment to realize that it were Tegoshi and Keiichiro coming inside and attacking Tamamori and Kato like furious housewives.

Tegoshi rushed past Kato sliding on the air landing in front of Tamamori, while Keiichiro stopped in front of Kato, which was more than surprised over the sudden invasion.

But the next person who came through the door was someone they didn’t expect. Nikaido turned his head to the door and froze when he saw him. He, who hated this city more than everyone else, who would never come back here freely, came here for him.

“Kentaro!” Nikaido wasn’t sure if he should be angry or happy about seeing his little brother here right in front of him, involved in this battle.

But know he knew he couldn’t die, he couldn’t leave his little brother behind in this city again.


	12. sorrowful farewell

 

„Nii-san!“ Kentaro rushed over to the cell, but he already seemed to know that he couldn’t easily break it.

“Watch out!” Fujigaya realized first that Kato tried to get away from Keiichiro aiming for Kentaro, maybe thinking that he would be the easier opponent, but he was disabused, when Kentaro just made a small movement with his hand which slammed Kato into the next wall.

Kentaro had learned many new techniques over the time in the village, but the wind training with Tegoshi appeared to be the most effective one.

He left Kato to Keiichiro who grinned at him while the other one tried to get up again, not really getting what had just happened.

Tegoshi was already dancing around Tamamori, teasing him so much that the other one was already yelling at him.

“How can I destroy this?” Kentaro asked Fujigaya impatiently.

“I’m not sure if it can be destroyed, but you can open it for a short time through cuts.”

Kentaro didn’t need more information. He stretched out his arms and concentrated for a moment.

“Get down!”

Fujigaya leant over Nikaido as Kentaro crossed his arms in front of him and a sharp wind crashed the cell into little pieces. It wasn’t completely destroyed, but the only part left was the bottom and it would need a while to restore itself.

“Woah Kentaro when did you learn that?” Fujigaya asked impressed as he stepped inside the cell sitting down next to his brother.

“Maybe I’m just a little bit more skilled than I thought,” He said with a small smile, before he turned to his brother examining his wound.

“That looks really bad, we have to heal him.”

“That’s what I already wanted to do!” Fujigaya started with a scolding look at Nikaido.

“As if I would let you kill yourself!” Nikaido replied.

Kentaro took a fast look around and Tamamori was rushing after Tegoshi still trying to somehow get a grip on him while Kato was almost not there anymore, every time he tried to lung out to punch Keiichiro he stumbled over, almost knocking himself out.

“It will be fine, I’ve enough power left.”

“No you don’t!”

“Okay you two lovebirds! We don’t have time for this!” Kentaro interrupted them, turning his brother’s face towards him.

Fujigaya held his breath out of reflex when Kentaro leant down and kissed his brother.

“Okay this didn’t feel awkward at all,” Kentaro said ironical after backing off again.

Nikaido just stared at the ceiling for a moment, then he turned to Fujigaya still looking kind of perplex.

“Don’t you dare to laugh now!” He growled when he saw how desperate Fujigaya tried to stop his lips from forming a smile.

“What the hell is taking you so long?”

Fujigaya turned around on the sound of Wataru’s voice. He must have been outside keeping guard, but he wasn't really happy to see his friend in the city as well, especially because he had no powers to defend hismelf.  “Tegoshi! Keiichiro! Stop fooling around, we have no time!”

“What a shame, playtime is over.” Tegoshi said smiling before he lifted up Tamamori and Kato at the same time, dropping them inside the cell right after Kentaro and the others had left it. Keiichiro had to cut the wall open again to let them out, because it had restored itself almost completely, expect for the ceiling.

But the walls were already too high for Tamamori and Kato to jump over it, so there was nothing they could do, expect for cursing.

“There, there you little realitists! I don’t want to hear so many bad words over us!” Tegoshi interrupted them waving with his pointer finger in front of them like a mother scolding her children.

“Tegoshi, come on! Could you help here instead of provoking them?” Wataru scolded him while putting Fujigaya’s arm around his shoulder. He felt still weak, because of his immense use of power inside the cell and his wound on the shoulder didn’t make it any easier.

Keiichiro and Kentaro helped Nikaido, who's wound was at least not bleeding anymore thanks to Kentaro’s healing, but he couldn’t heal him completely. It would have been no help if Kentaro would have used all his powers to heal him completely and would have no energy left for himself.

“So I guess I’m playing the shield walking in front?” Tegoshi asked looking at everyone.

“Come on, as if you wouldn’t wish for that!” Wataru teased him, gaining a lopsided smile in return.

They were lucky that there was no one left in the building, who could have stopped them. Tegoshi and the others had ‘cleaned up’ good when they intruded. All the people were trapped somewhere or unconscious, but no one was dead. That was one of Wataru’s golden rules.

If possible they won’t kill anyone and for now it seemed to work out. But there was no way that those were all the people involved in their research and soon backup would definitely be on their way, so they had to hurry.

“How the hell did you find us anyway?” Fujigaya asked Wataru as they rushed towards the exit.

“Long story, let's say we got worried and looked for you and as we saw the place where you had been fighting, we asked Keicihiro to come with us, because he can follow the tracks the best and Kentaro is the only one who knows the city. It took us over two days to come here, because we had a lot of trouble to make it past the guards at the fence, but luckily we made it in time.”

“But how did you find the laboratory?” Nikaido asked confused not knowing about it himself.

“I have a really convincing way to ask people for the way,” Tegoshi responed smiling.

“I would never doubt that,” Nikaido said with a light smile squeezing the shoulder of his younger brother as they kept walking, hoping that they would make it out the city without a problem.

When they left the building Nikaido and Kentaro tensed when they looked over the city. They were standing on some kind of platform on a high building. One of the few high buildings, which remained intact.

Fujigaya looked around. He couldn’t believe that this was the place he called home for most of his life. He had lived in this area before, but left the city right at the beginning of the war together with his brothers. They found out about their powers after they had already left, so they never knew exactly what had happened here after the first phenomenistic powers were discovered. But he was sure that all this chaos and destruction was not just caused by the war itself, but also from the fights afterwards.

It didn’t just look horrible, but there was this feeling inside of him just by looking at this cold black city. It felt full of sorrow, almost dead and as he looked towards Kentaro and Nikaido he could read in their eyes how painful it must have been to live in this city, hidden in the shadows, trying to survive.

He tightened his grip around Wataru who looked at him understanding.

“Let’s get out of here,” Fujigaya said in a low voice like he didn’t want to wake up the horror that was living inside this city.

No one said anything in respond they just moved one, fast and quiet.

“We have to watch out at the boundary. They have guards there.” Wataru explained while they hid at the last building in front of the boundary fence.

“How are we supposed to get over this thing anyways?” Nikaido asked confused looking at the almost five meter high electricity fence. And he knew that it wasn’t just this kind of electricity where you put your hand on and got a little shock. It was more of this burning you to death electricity.

“We are going to fly over it,” Tegoshi said like it would be the most natural thing ever. “Don’t worry. I will take Wataru, Keiichiro will take Fujigaya and Kentaro will take you.”

“What?” Nikaido looked at his little brother doubting.

“Hey! I can do this. I came in here the same way.” Kentaro scolded his older brother hitting him on the back of his head.

“Everyone shut up!” Wataru lifted his hand to silence everyone, looking around the corner where three guards appeared.

When they had moved by, he ordered Keiichiro and Fujigaya to go first. It seemed like Keiichiro didn’t even use any kind of strength to lift both of them over the high fence. But Fujigaya could feel that it had cost more power than he would show, when they had landed and for a moment Fujigaya was the one who had to stabilize him instead of the other way around.

After Wataru had made sure that they weren’t seen he gave Kentaro and Nikaido the sign to go over next.

Kentaro needed more strength already to just get him and his brother up.

“WATARU! TEGOSHI! BEHIND YOU!” It was Fujigaya who had seen first that there were guards right behind them. But it was already too late, Tegoshi had tried to create a crack in the earth behind him the moment Fujigaya warned them, but they were already too near and even though the first guard stumbled he sliced down Tegoshi’s back making him scream out. Wataru had drew his own sword, attacking the two guards.

Confused over all the screaming, Kentaro couldn’t make it over the fence and landed down on the city side again, spinning around.

“Fujigaya stop it, you can’t go over!” Keiichiro held him back when he realized that Fujigaya tried to lift himself to the other side again.

“Then you go back over, we have to help them!” Fujigaya tried to get out of his grip, but he knew that it was not possible for either of them to make such a jump at the moment.

Wataru had fought of the first guard, hitting him with the back of his sword to the neck so he dropped to the ground unconsciously.

But he wasn’t fast enough to counter the attack from the second guard, but just an inch before the sword hit him Tegoshi had thrown a huge rock at him, crashing him into the next building.

“Tegoshi are you alright?” Wataru rushed over to him helping him back to his feet. The cut was long, but fortunately not so deep. At least it wasn’t life threatening.

The moment they had reached Nikaido and Kentaro, Wataru already saw the three guards from before running back towards them.

He looked at Kentaro putting his hands on his shoulders.

“I know it’s asked much for, but do you think you can lift two people over the fence?”

“What? Why two?” Kentaro looked confused around him, but then he realized what he was planning.

“What are you doing, hurry!” Fujigaya shouted from the other side, not able to hear what Wataru and the others were talking about.

“No Wataru, I can take you over!” Tegoshi grabbed Wataru’s sleeve, trying to hold him back when he was about to turn away from them.

“No you can’t and you know that. Not with that wound.” Wataru took Tegoshi’s hand away from him, holding it in his hands for a moment.

“Go and protect everyone!” He said to Tegoshi smiling before turning to Kentaro and Nikaido. “Kentaro you have still much to learn, but you will definitely grow into a great adult.” He stroke over his hair before smiling at Nikaido hitting him light on the shoulder. “And you take care of Taisuke, he will need you!”

Nikaido didn’t even know what to answer, he seemed to be the only one who didn’t got this plan, but he knew his bad health at the moment was at fault. It was heard enough to keep conscious, following all the conversations wasn’t that easy.

But then Kentaro grabbed Tegoshi the same moment the guards arrived and Wataru turned around to fight them off.

Kentaro wasn’t sure how he had made it to the other side, but somehow he had done it. Dropping Tegoshi and Nikaido to the ground, almost collapsing himself.

“NO WATTA!” Fujigaya couldn’t believe what had just happened. He couldn’t do anything anymore. Wataru was trying to fight the guards off, while Keiichiro tried to drag Fujigaya away from the fence so he wouldn’t get himself killed. The earth started shaking and a sharp wind blew around them, but Fujigaya was already on the verge of collapsing, using his powers now could kill him, bit he didn't allow himself to black out.

“TAISUKE, GO!” Wataru screamed in between the sound of clashing swords.

“NO, I WON'T LEAVE YOU BEHIND!” He tried desperate to free himself from Keiichiro’s grip when he got a hard blow in the stomach, so that the last thing he saw was Wataru who was smiling at him even though he was desperately fighting for them.

Nikaido had risen to his feet again and hit Fujigaya unconscious for his own sake.

“Let’s go!” He said to Keiichiro who lifted up Kentaro and Tegoshi a little bit forcefully, knowing that they had to move fast when they didn’t want more guards to appear and follow them through the next gate.

Nikaido threw Fujigaya over his shoulder, screaming at his body to not collapse now. One more time he turned around. Wataru had already beaten two guards and he seemed to win against the last one as well, he was an awesome fighter after all when he had to protect someone. But he could already see new guards coming towards them.

Wataru met his eyes for a short moment and Nikaido knew that there would be no way to get him out there. He was the leader of this village and he would do everything to protect it and its people. This was the only way to protect them.

He turned around and started running. Kentaro also turned to him once more before he started running not even trying to focus on the sounds or their presences. He didn’t even stopped when he was too far away to feel their presences anymore or was it just Wataru’s presence he couldn’t feel anymore?

Nikaido had seen the change on his brother's face, but there was no time for thinking! He had to concentrate on his movements. His body was about to give in. While Keichiro carried Tegoshi on his back he screamed at Kentaro to get a grip and concentrate as he stumbled.

And then there was Fujigaya. The one who had already lost his home, his older brother and now his best friend.

A tear found it's way down Nikaido’s cheek. He wasn’t sure if it was a tear for Wataru or a tear for Fujigaya. Maybe it was even a tear for himself.

But for now he ignored it and kept running.


	13. torn

 

„It might be better when you leave for the village without us, “ Nikaido added after his brother had told him about what happened while they were gone.

Fujigaya wouldn’t need to get confronted with Fuma’s death after he just lost his best friend.

Kentaro just nodded approving before Tegoshi turned around to them.

“Just so you know, if he wakes up it will be really dangerous for you.”

First Nikaido was confused, but before he opened his mouth to ask why, he found the answer himself. Fujigaya’s powers would be greater than before when he would wake up again, he could maybe destroy everything inside the range of a kilometer.

“I know. But this is all I can do for him.”

Tegoshi nodded with a brief smile.

“Then take your time. If you need help we are there for you.” Tegoshi already signaled the others to leave before he turned around one more time.

“Nikaido.”

“Yes.”

“When he wakes up and he says something like he doesn’t want you by his side tell him that he has to remember the time after his older brother died.”

“Okay.” Nikaido didn’t really understand what this was about, but he could feel that Tegoshi’s words could help him.

“Oh and if that doesn’t work either hit him from me and tell him that he can be lucky to have someone like you by his side, who always cares for him and watches out for him, even though he is such an idiot.”

Nikaido wasn’t sure if he had blushed on that comment, because his face suddenly felt warmer and he felt a little bit ashamed even though he knew that there was no reason for that.

He waited until the others were out of sight before he put Fujigaya carefully down to the ground, sitting down next to him to put Fujigaya’s head carefully on his lap.

It had taken them three days to come back and Fujigaya hadn't even woken up once. They took a few small breaks in between and the others helped Nikaido with his healing, but they decided that it would be better for Fujigaya to be asleep as long as possible. Even though they were already next to the villages boundary not more than a few kilometers away from where they got taken last time Nikaido was sure that there would be no interruption this time, knowing that Tegoshi and the others were watching out that no one was following them.

It also seemed that he could already get at least a little bit power from Fujigaya just by holding on to his hand. As closer the persons were as faster and better the transfer of the powers seemed to work.

He could feel all living creature around him, even everyone in the village even though it was still far away. Nikaido had to smile as he realized again that he could handle Fujigaya’s powers way better than the older one could. But he didn’t want to concentrate too much on the village, feeling the gloomy mood and when he found his way towards Kento’s feelings he stopped his powers, making them come back to him not wanting to feel what he was going through at the moment.

He needed to be cool headed for Fujigaya. If he would get pulled down by Kento’s feelings now he wouldn’t be much support for him.

“Nika?”

When Nikaido looked down at Fujigaya his heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t explain if it was just the look in his eyes or if he could feel it through his powers, but when he woke up his whole world had somehow crumbled.

Fujigaya remained on Nikaido’s lap holding on to his hand while looking around. He seemed calm, too calm. It seemed like he would try to find an explanation for what had happened. Maybe waiting for Nikaido to tell him that all of it was just a bad dream and that he had finally woken up and everything was fine.

But he seemed to realize himself that this was not the case. Reality crashed down on him with every breath, every movement he made and every second that passed.

Nikaido could feel how his heart was beating faster and faster, and his breaths got shorter with every blink he made.

“Gaya? Hey look at me!” Nikaido grabbed his hand even tighter and put the other one on his shoulder as Fujigaya seemed to lose it, almost hyperventilating he turned to his side, crouching together on the cold ground.

“It’s okay, calm down. I’m here!” He knew that his words wouldn’t be of great comfort for him right now, but at least he had to try something.

The first raindrops started to fall accompanied by a strong wind and rolling thunder.

As the rain continued so strong that they were completely drained in the matter of seconds and the wind was about to cut the trees apart Nikaido finally interfered.

He grabbed Fujigaya by the shoulder turning him around and pulled him up into a sitting position. He held on to his shoulders as Fujigaya tried to fight him off, not wanting to face him. Even though the rain was running over Fujigaya’s face Nikaido could still see the tears running down with it.

“Leave me alone,” Fujigaya’s voice was not more than a whisper. He was still looking away, almost absent like he would try to imagine that he was alone. But that was exactly what Nikaido wouldn’t allow him. He wouldn’t let him go through this alone. Nikaido pulled him into a tight hug, kneeling in front of him.

“Let go!” Fujigaya’s voice was weak and full of sobs and his struggling seemed even weaker than his voice.

“No I won’t let go,” Nikaido held on to him even tighter on his struggling. “You can cry and scream and break down as much as you want, because this is exactly what everyone would do at your place. But you have to do it with me by your side.”

For a moment he didn’t respond and it seemed like the storm calmed down a little bit, but when Nikaido thought it would be okay Fujigaya pushed him away with so much force that he landed on the ground.

“What do you know?” He screamed at him standing up. “How dare you try to protect me now after leaving Wataru behind? LEAVE, I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU ANYMORE!” His voice was full of rage, but also filled with so much fear, confusion and grief that he couldn’t sound as angry as he wanted to.

He turned around, not wanting Nikaido to see his tears anymore, but Nikaido stood up approaching him again.

There was one huge thunder as Fujigaya screamed at him, but now all that was left was the rain, a sorrowful one.

Nikaido stopped a few meters away from him realizing that he would freak out again if he would come any closer.

“Your brother!” Nikaido started. Fujigaya turned his head a little bit looking confused to the ground.

“What happened when your older brother died?”

Fujigaya tensed the moment he realized that he wasn’t talking about Taiga, but about Mitsu. He never wanted to talk about him again. This memory was just too painful.

First the rain got less, but then the earth started to erupt and the wind rose up so much that Nikaido almost lost balance.

Fujigaya put his hands to his head screaming out like he would try to get his memories out of his head.

“Gaya!” Nikaido shouted out for him, not sure if he could hear him through all the noises through the storm, the moving trees and the shaking earth.

Nikaido looked up to one of the trees the moment he heard a huge cracking noise. The ground had gotten a crack and uproot a tree which was about to fall over through the wind.

“GAYA, WATCH OUT!” He was rushing forward automatically when he realized that the tree was falling towards Fujigaya’s direction. He had gone down to his knees still screaming. He wasn’t aware of his surroundings and his powers anymore.

Nikaido had reached him just in time to grab him by his jacket and drag him away underneath the falling tree. While Fujigaya just hit the ground a little bit harder after Nikaido had let go off his jacket, he himself crushed into a small stonewall hitting it so hard through his pace that he screamed out sliding to the ground holding on to his shoulder.

“NIKA!” Fujigaya seemed to have snapped out of it the moment he realized that he had put himself and Nikaido in danger with his behavior.

“Are you okay?” Fujigaya sat down next to him holding his hands around his shoulder, but not touching it, afraid that he could hurt him.

Nikaido just smiled at him, even though his face showed that he was indeed hurt.

“Thank you.”

“Why do you thank me? You’re the one who saved my life. I should thank you and apologies for putting you in danger and-” Fujigaya was about to go hysteric again so Nikaido put his hand on his cheek making him breath in deep realizing that he was about to lose it again.

“It’s okay! Come here.” Nikaido sat up a little bit trying not to twist his face too much not wanting Fujigaya to see how painful it was to move his shoulder. He leant against the stone wall signaling Fujigaya to sit down next to him.

The rain had finally stopped and there was just a small breeze left. Fujigaya seemed more than exhausted when he sat down next to Nikaido putting his head on his not hurt shoulder closing his eyes.

Since they got kidnapped the other day they couldn’t rest at all. His powers had already reached its limit when they escaped the city. It was a miracle to himself that he didn’t lose conscious on his emotional breakdown.

Nikaido had closed his eyes as well and for a moment they just sat there in silence, breathing slow and deep feeling each other’s heartbeat.

“The day my brother died was the day I got my powers.” Fujigaya began in a low voice. “The realitists which came into our village had killed him right in front my eyes. We thought they would be fugitives from the city. They already lived with us for a few days before Tegoshi overheard them that they wanted to report the coordinates of the village to the city. My brother was the head of the village at that time and wanted to give them the chance to explain themselves and maybe change their view of phenomenists. They agreed and wanted to stay. To be honest they seemed really persuading. We all believed them when they explained that they wanted to escape the city, but they were afraid of the consequences and that they didn’t want to fight the phenomenists.”

Fujigaya paused for a moment getting his emotions under control.

“Then a few days later when everyone was in the main building it caught fire. You can imagine which were the only ones not in the building at that time. Through our powers or more through Mitsu, Tegoshi and Massu no one got hurt, but when we got out they took us by surprise. One of them pulled Taiga away from us putting a knife to his throat. We were all so focused on him that we didn’t realize that the other one was approaching from behind and before we even realized what had happened he had stabbed my brother in the back, even though it had been me they were aiming for. Mitsu had realized it in the last moment throwing himself between us. I wasn't even a phenomenist back then, but they didn't care. If they had the chance they would have killed everyone that night, with or without powers."

A few raindrops fell when Fujigaya took a deep breath before he continued.

“You know I was standing right next to him and he had put his hand on my shoulder holding me back when he realized that I wanted to attack the realitists. He was about to die and he still tried to protect me. Before he could wound someone else Tegoshi had attacked the other one, getting Taiga away from him unharmed while Massu attacked the one in front of me.”

Nikaido took Fujigaya’s hand into his when he realized that he started crying as his voice broke.

“It’s okay you don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.”

But Fujigaya shook his head trying to stop his sobs.

“It’s just that I can’t forgive myself for what I did later. My brother just died like this in my arms that evening. I just freaked, I couldn’t take it. The moment I held his lifeless body inside my arms I got my powers. I screamed out and the whole ground started to crack open. I risked so many lives that evening. Sure I couldn’t control myself when I freaked, I didn’t know what I was doing at that time, but I remember clearly how I killed those two realitists and I might have killed everyone who would have stood in my way.”

Nikaido realized that this was not what he was so ashamed of and not what Tegoshi told him before, so he waited for him to continue.

“And then I ran.” He had to laugh bitterly on his own words.

“Can you believe that? My brother died, I killed two people and I just ran away. I was a danger to myself and everyone I would meet by accident. I could have also run into realitists again and got killed.”

First Nikaido wanted to tell him that he could understand him. That was something you couldn’t just deal with like that. But then he remembered how he ran away when his little brother got his powers and he was so afraid and confused that he left him alone. That was the moment he realized what Fujigaya was so ashamed of.

“I left him alone. I left my little brother there alone. I left him there staring at his oldest brother’s dead body after he could have lost his own life just a few moments before as well. I just thought about myself. I didn’t care that he would be all by himself when I would get myself killed back then.”

He was shaking his head against Nikaido’s shoulder still not in full control over his shaking voice.

“The one who came after me, the one who saved me and brought back my senses was Wataru. He did the same as you did before. He risked his own life to protect mine while I was just thinking about myself.”

Nikaido felt how Fujigaya squeezed his hand shaking bitterly against him.

“And even though he did so much for me, even though he was there for me and for my brothers all the time I couldn’t be there for him. I couldn’t protect him. I just-“

When Fujigaya’s voice broke for good this time and there was no way he could hold back his tears and sobs anymore Nikaido turned around pulling him into a tight hug. He ignored his pain when he lifted his hurt arm to stroke over his hair. He decided to say nothing. He just wanted to be there for him. He rested his head on his, stroking lightly over his hair, wrapping his other arm around him.

They would just remain like this as long as it would take for Fujigaya to be fine again. Even if that would mean to remain in the rain that just started like an endless thread out of teardrops.

 


	14. Legacy

Kentaro sat on the stone where his brother and Fujigaya were sitting so often. He had been there for over an hour already not knowing what else to do.

When they came back from their mission to free his brother and Fujigaya and they came into the village without them and without Wataru everyone was in a big uproar.

After Koyama had explained the situation everything got even worse. He had to bring a few of the realitists out of the village for some time. The death of Fuma, the loss of Wataru all of this was just too much for them to take. Massu had taken Tegoshi to their house as he refused to stay at Miyata's house after he had treaten his injury. 

“Hey, you mind if I join you?” Taiga appeared next to him and Kentaro flinched a little bit as he hadn't realized that he was standing next to him.

“No, not at all.” Kentaro replied with a small smile. The moment Taiga sat down a big smack was heard a few hundred meters northwards from the village.

“It seems like they still can’t calm down.” Taiga said with a worried look over to the forest where a huge smoke cloud was raising. “How is it that you are so calm?”

“To be honest I don’t know myself.” Kentaro admitted. “Maybe I just have no power left to show it. This whole mission was taking away so much power from all of us. Even Tegoshi had big problems in the end.”

“And how are our brothers?” Taiga asked in a careful voice. Sure Koyama had explained everything before, but he was straight to the point not wanting to hold an overemotional speech.

“Nikaido is kind of fine I guess, but your brother…” For a moment he didn’t know how much he should tell him, but he would want to know, if it was about his own brother.

He turned towards him, finally facing someone for the first time after they had come back to the village.

“He was so outraged the moment Wataru decided that he would stay behind, I never saw him so panicked and frightened before.”

Taiga listened to Kentaro’s detailed story with a straight face not even once interrupting him.

“Taiga?” Kentaro looked at him worried when he didn’t say anything for over a minute after he had told him everything that had happened.

He let out something between a chuckle and a sob looking up to the sky, obviously deep in his thoughts.

“You know when we let strangers into our village before, our oldest brother Mitsu decided that it was okay to let them live here, because they were fugitives. But then they betrayed us.”

Now it was Kentaro who was listening not believing what he was telling him. It was the first time that he was so open and honest with him. Now he finally understood why Fujigaya was so repellent towards them all the time.

“I think Fujigaya told Nikaido a little bit about it before. But after Tegoshi told your brother to confront him with his past it might even be the best for him to finally tell someone the whole story.” Taiga finally looked back at him this time not even trying to hold back his tears. “And I guess it was a good choice for me as well.” He added with a short smile.

Kentaro didn’t even want to reply something. Instead he pulled Taiga in a tight hug knowing that this would give him not the comfort he needed, but at least it would give him more than any words he could think of. And Taiga seemed thankful hugging him back, digging his fingers into Kentaro’s shirt while burying his face on his shoulder.

They remained silent for a while after that, both deep in their thoughts when Taiga hit Kentaro light on the shoulder.

“That’s not good.”

“What?” But when Kentaro followed Taiga’s gaze he didn’t had to ask anymore. Myuto was running towards them already breathing hard when he stopped in front of them.

“Kento woke up!” He said worried between his deep breaths.

“Does he already know?”

“Yes, he asked right away and as Massu came over he decided that it would make no sense to hide it, but…”

“But what?” Kentaro asked while he and Taiga were already on their feet ready to rush down to the village, when a earth started shaking.

“What the hell? They are outside the village how can we feel their powers until here?” Taiga asked worried looking towards the forest.

“No it’s not them.” Myuto explained before he got interrupted by a stroke of lightning which hid the doctor’s house setting it on fire.

“Shit!” Taiga was the first to start running towards the village turning around to Myuto and Kentaro which were following him. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Kento! He kind of became a phenomenist!” Myuto shouted as they were already down at the village.

Taiga stopped abrupt making Kentaro almost crush into him.

“What do you mean with kind of?”

Myuto looked to the ground for a moment searching for words.

“The powers are out of control, but not the same way as when someone gets his powers. It seems like they don’t belong to him.”

Kentaro was still confused, but when he remembered the moment he got his powers he understood. Sure they were hard to control and he didn’t really get what was going on, but he could feel that they were a part of him somehow.

“They are not his, they are Fuma’s powers.” Kentaro said as a conclusion making Myuto and Taiga look at him confused.

“Let’s just check on him for now.” Taiga said finally, before rushing over to the burning house.

The moment it came into sight Miyata, Aran and Senga were standing in front of it kind of unsure what to do.

“What happened? Where are Massu and Kento?” Myuto asked looking from one to the other. “Are you hurt?” He added worried when he saw small wounds all over their bodies maybe through the broken windows or the fire.

“We are fine, don’t worry.” Aran started.

“Kento freaked when he couldn’t control his powers, saying that he couldn’t even feel them. Then the lightning struck the building. Massu screamed at us to get out, since then they are still in there.”

The building was still on fire and no voices could be heard from the inside. All of them remained silent waiting for anything to happen.

Then they heard a scream and huge cracks appeared on the walls of the building.

“He will kill himself if this goes on!” Miyata said worried ruffling through his hair feeling more than useless at the moment.

“No, Kentaro! STOP!” Taiga realized too late that Kentaro had passed him and ran inside the burning building.

“Taiga, leave him! He is a phenomenist as well. If someone can help Kento then he can.” Senga said comforting, holding Taiga back who tried to follow him.

Kentaro fought his way through the building trying to not get burned and then finally he found them. But something was different from the rest of the building, because there was no fire around them. He looked at Massu who was kneeling on the ground with his arms spread out and breathing hard. He was holding away the fire and stabilizing the building with his powers. Then his look fell on Kento who was crouching on the ground between crying and screaming, obviously not understanding what was going on.

Kentaro approached Massu first and the latter looked over his shoulder towards him with wide eyes.

“What are you doing here, it’s too dangerous. Get out!” Even though Massu was almost out of his powers he tried to make him leave. He was also hurt badly and Kentaro knew that he needed to hurry.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan!” He said while approaching Kento who didn’t even look up at him at first.

“Kento?” On the sound of his name he flinched and tried to crawl back when Kentaro stepped closer.

“Don’t come near me!” He shouted and when he stretched out his arm in defense one of the wooden bars crashed between them making Kentaro jump back. “Look I told you!” Kento screamed at him, but Kentaro didn’t back off, he even smiled a little bit on what just happened.

“Why are you smiling, do you find this funny?” Kento asked kind of hurt.

“Not funny, but it makes me happy to see that something of him remained!” Kentaro explained.

“What are you talking about?”

“Fuma!” The moment Kentaro said his name Kento finally seemed to calm down a little bit. Here was his chance.

Kentaro used his powers to divide the flames in front of him kneeling down in front of Kento.

“Kento, how was Fuma?”

“What?” He looked at him in complete confusion, more than overchallenged with the whole situation.

“Describe Fuma in two words.”

Kento was thinking for a moment before he had to form a smile as he realized what Kentaro wanted to tell him.

“Outraged!”

 “And?”

Kento looked up at him smiling happily and honest, while the tears finally dried on his cheeks.

“Caring!” He said with a smile before he collapsed into Kentaro’s arms.

“Let’s get out!” Massu had approached them right away, lifting Kento over his shoulder and leaving the way out to Kentaro, knowing that he didn't have enough power left to control the flames. And Kentaro lost no time clearing their path towards the exit.

“They are coming out!” Myuto screamed when the three of them rushed out the building.

Taiga caught Kentaro who realized that he had used a huge amount of powers as well to get them out safe, while Senga took Kento from Massu and lifted him up in his arms.

“Let’s get away, before the building collapses.” Miyata shouted stabilizing Massu.

They went over to the main hall putting Kento on one of the tables, while Miyata helped Massu to sit down.

“I will get some medications from the storage.” Miyata excused himself after that.

“Kentaro?” Massu asked and Kentaro moved over to him and sat down in front of him. “What you said before to Kento, does that mean-?”

“Yes, they are Fuma’s powers.” Kentaro explained and everyone fell silent for a moment.

“That makes sense, doesn’t it?” Aran admitted after a while getting a nod from Myuto and Taiga in respond.

“Because he saved Kento’s life with his powers he transferred them to him somehow.” Kentaro assumed.

“Let’s hope that he can control them now that he knows.” Taiga said sitting down next to Kento stroking over his hair.

“He will, I’m sure of it. If it is Fuma he will do everything for him and taking care of his powers is the only thing that he can do for him from now on.” Massu explained with a faint smile.

The death of Fuma was something Kento had to deal with on his own. Sure everyone was there for him, comforting him, but he was the only one who had to let go and like this he might be able to, because Fuma left something behind for him so he wouldn’t forget him.

“Taiga, Yasui!” Miyata shouted when he came back in with the medication in his hands. “Your brothers are back!” He said smiling.

Taiga and Kentaro jumped to their feet, knowing that it was a good sign that Miyata said that with a smile. They ran outside searching for them.

They were just at the border of the village walking next to each other, waving towards them.

“Everything will be find again, right?” Taiga asked while waving back at them.

“It definitely will!” Kentaro responded clapping him on the shoulder comforting before they rushed over to their brothers.

 


	15. Feigning

 

 

„No, that didn’t just happen, did it?“ Hokuto asked with a raised eyebrow standing next to Ryosuke who was staring as amused as him at Aran.

“Hey, would you stop laughing and help me out?” Aran asked trying to sound serious, but his flushed cheeks told everyone that he realized himself that this situation he had brought himself into was more than amusing.

“It’s your own fault when you try something like this. You are not Fujigaya and Nikaido, you know!” Myuto scolded him with a bright smile.

“I would say Kishi is the one who should help him out, because he is at fault for this mess after all!” Hokuto demanded with a lopsided smile.

“Eh? It’s not my fault!” Kishi tried to defend himself having as bright red cheeks as Aran. “He was the one who kissed me!” He said in such a low voice that it was almost not to hear.

“So you want to leave him there like this?” Kentaro asked between smiling and worrying seeing how everyone had so much fun after Aran had kissed Kishi trying to get his powers transferred, but was lifted up in a huge rose tree created by Kishi the moment they parted their lips.

“You formed this so you can redo it!” Kentaro said as a logical conclusion.

Aran screamed out of surprise when the rose tree just vanished as fast as it was created. But Kishi had turned around as panicked towards him as the others, so it wasn’t his doing for sure.

But when Aran got caught in some moss like bed Kentaro looked back at Kishi and at least the rescue part was definitely Kishi’s doing.

“Sorry!” They all turned around looking at an ashamed smiling Kento rubbing the back of his head looking apologizing at them. “I just saw what had happened and wanted to help out, but before I realized that I was using my powers, they kind of acted on their own.” He bowed a little bit towards Aran who was sitting on the moss with a pale face.

“Kento, you are way too overmotivated since you got your powers.” Ryosuke teased him.

“Are you okay?” Kishi asked crouching down next to Aran.

“I guess so…” He replied kind of absent minded.

“Whoa, what the…?”  Kishi fell over so that Aran had to catch him. But his drive was too much for Aran to hold him so he landed on top of him their face just a few inches away from each other.

“Wuhu~” Myuto shouted, while Hokuto tried to play innocent as if no one would know that he made Kishi fell over.

“Go for it Kishi!” Ryosuke rooted from the side leaning on Kento’s shoulder trying to suppress a huge laughter.

It made Kentaro smile seeing them all so happy or at least seeing how they tried to be happy after what had happened in the last weeks. Sure it was not just the pain of what happened this time, but also before with Mitsu and when all of them had to fight their way through the chaos after the war not knowing where to go and whom to trust. Kentaro knew that the best and although he had his brother with him he also had had times where he had to fight alone. And even though this was just the silence before the storm and everyone was aware of that, no one would say it out loud. There was no need to.

Kentaro turned around to the village looking around. Miyata had finally rebuilt his house after Kento had destroyed it, looking kind of satisfied with his work when Tegoshi came running obviously teasing him about his more or less provisional rebuilding. After Massu had entered the teasing they started chasing each other around the building. Kentaro had to suppress a giggle when Miyata didn’t realize that Massu and Tegoshi had both lifted themselves up on the roof now looking down at him as he desperately tried to find them.

“It would be great, if we could continue like this forever, right?”

Kentaro turned his head when someone put his hand on his shoulder.

“Nii-san!” He smiled at his older brother putting his hand on his. “It would be just like before. If we could just forget about this war and about the phenomenist powers, we could start over.”

“Maybe it would even be better, now that we made so many awesome friends.” Nikaido said supporting squeezing his little brother’s shoulder once before stepping back.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to meet someone.” Nikaido explained with a brief smile.

“Wuhuh~ Nika and Gaya have a date!” Myuto teased him happily making the others turn from Kishi and Aran to him.

“Be sure that your door is locked or you won’t know who interferes.” Hokuto started teasing as well making the rest of them laugh.

“Hey watch out what you’re saying or I will get myself a little bit of power and then have a talk with you again!”

“Can we watch when you get the power?” Myuto tried to keep up his teasing, but fell silent when Nikaido approached him fast and stopped just a few centimeters in front of his face.

“Mhhh.” Nikaido scanned Myuto’s face putting his hand to his cheek making Myuto flinch a little bit.  “Unfortunately you’re not a phenomenist or I might have just taken your powers to hit you with it as a punishment for your teasing!” Nikaido said in a played evil voice.

“Myuto did you bite your tongue?” Ryosuke asked when Myuto didn’t respond anything, instead looking to the ground trying to hide his flushed cheeks.

“Shall we start cheering for you now maybe?” Aran shouted over to him with a satisfied smile on his face.

“No chance, you know that Kentaro's brother his out of reach for him!” Hokuto said pointing out at them. “Or do you want to start a competition Myuto?”

“What? No!” Myuto finally realized that he wasn’t moving the whole time still standing right in front of Nikaido. So he stepped back and walked towards Hokuto jsut to hit him against the shoulder.

“It might be the best when I leave you alone with all your overflowing emotions and imaginations.” Nikaido said finally turning around to leave just to turn around once more. “But I will send over Taiga, I guess. So that someone I can trust watches out for my little brother. I can’t leave him alone with a chaos troop like you!”

“Lame excuse. He just needs a reason so that Taiga leaves the house so that they have some private time.” Hokuto whispered towards Ryosuke and Kento.

“I heard that!” Nikaido shouted back at him without even turning around .

“Damn it.”

Ryosuke and Kento started laughing at Hokuto as he stepped between them hooking into their arms.

“Don’t you dare to leave me alone tonight. Who knows what he will do to me, if no one is around!” He said with a worried look making everyone burst out laughing even Kentaro.

***

“You know that this was not really inconspicuous how you shoved Taiga out just now, right? He will drill me with questions later!”

“Why should he? He knows about us, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, but he is not Kentaro. He won’t just take it as it is and not ask any questions. He is more like the I-want-to-know-like-everything-about-your-relationship-even-though-I-know-it’s-none-of-my-buisness-type.” Fujigaya replied and leant back in his chair crossing his arms in front of his chest raising an eyebrow at Nikaido who was still standing at the door where he had just shoved out Taiga waiting for any kind of reaction.

But Nikaido wasn’t there to talk and Fujigaya knew that.

He just needed two big steps until he was standing right in front of Fujigaya, who was looking up to him with a kind of eager expression on his face.

Nikaido put his hands on the arms of the chair leaning down to him and even though he would have liked to tease him a little bit he couldn’t resist leaning in for a kiss. Around Fujigaya the gravity seemed to work wrong for Nikaido. Instead of getting pulled down he always got pulled towards him and that with ten times more force than he got pulled to the earth.

It took just the blink of an eye, okay and a hit shin on the bed, a resisting shirt and a ripping belt until they found themselves on the bed, skin on skin exploring each other’s body like this would be the first or maybe the last time they could ever feel each other.

Nikaido took the lead without leaving Fujigaya any kind of chance to object.

“Are you trying to run away?” He asked giggling when Fujigaya turned around in his arms, but got pulled back at his chest right away.

“Why would I?” He asked looking over his shoulder getting a short kiss instead of an answer. “You think with that you can make me stay?”

The next kiss was more convincing for him. Long and passionate as he liked it. But even though he could continue like this the whole night he slid to the side of the bed the moment Nikaido backed off to get some air.

“It seems like I’m doing something wrong here tonight!” He complained supporting himself on the elbows ruffling to his hair still carrying a light smile on his face.

“Not quite. But with this we can make sure that you won’t do something wrong for the rest of the night either!” Fujigaya turned around to him again after getting something from the side of the bed waving a small bag in front of his face.

“What is that?” Nikaido asked with a raised eyebrow.

“See for yourself!” Fujigaya held the bag out to him and Nikaido opened it with a questioning look which turned in a stunned one seeing the content.

“Lube!? You are kidding me?” Nikaido said in a mixture of laughing and nagging.

“How about a thank you?”

“What?”

“Do you know how hard it was to bring this into the village? You know that Senga and Massu are checking everything we are bringing from our border checks. I found it when Keiichiro and I were on the southern boundary in one of the destroyed cities. You don’t even want to know where I had to hide it so Keiichiro and the others wouldn't find it! It’s something we won’t normally use so no need to bring it in! We just bring what is really necessary.”

Nikaido couldn’t stop his mouth to form a really long smile making Fujigaya narrow his eyes.

“What?”

“Nothing. Thank you!” Nikaido stroke over Fujigaya’s hair like you would do with a dog which brought back the ball before he took the tube with the lube out of the bag.

“Okay forget it. If you make fun out of it so much, give it back! But then I will be doing you tonight, so you’ll scream for this later!”

But before Fujigaya could even snatch the box out of Nikaido’s hand he had lifted his arm so that Fujigaya couldn’t reach it anymore.

“Oh, too short arms?” He teased happily.

“So now you’re even getting cocky? Okay you wanted it this way!”

Without another warning Fujigaya tackled him so that he had to somehow stabilize himself to not fall off the bed. When he had to put down his arm with the tube Fujigaya captured it like it would be some kind of trophy.

“Ha, got it!”

“Question is, for how long!”

Before Fujigaya could even react Nikaido turned the tables and tackled Fujigaya back turning him on his stomach and putting his arms around him.

“Say it!”

“What?”

“That I’ve won!”

“No you didn’t!”

Fujigaya tried to free himself, but of course it was no use like this. When he fell silent and didn’t struggle for a moment Nikaido turned him around and kissed him.

“What was that for?”

“Just in case you thought of using your powers, I just made sure our chances are equal!”

“Would you stop stealing my powers as you wish?”

“It’s your own fault if you give them away too me so willingly! Oh and by the way, I think I won!”

Nikaido held out the tube to Fujigaya who looked at his own hands in surprise like he didn’t even realize that Nikaido had snatched it away.

While normally the phenomenist had to decide if he would give his powers to a human Nikaido could steal Fujigaya’s powers. Until now no one could explain why and how. For sure was at least that it was just working for them, after Tegoshi and Senga had to play guinea pig.

But this was also some new information they had to keep away from the realitists as long as possible. They already found out that the transfer of the powers was possible somehow. If there was a way to learn how to steal them there would be more than just another war, it would be the end of either the city or the phenomenists.

 

 


	16. The thin line between elation and desperation

“Stop nagging, I’m still sleeping.” Fujigaya hit away Nikaido’s hand when he started teasing him so early in the morning. Nikaido was lying behind him stroking over his neck.

“So you are sleep talking?”

“No I’m not.”

“Then shut up and sleep, so I can touch you a little bit more without you complaining.”

With a sigh Fujigaya turned around to him.

“Do you think it will scare me when you look at me with narrowed eyes?” Nikaido asked giggling while Fujigaya tried to play angry.

“No but when I let you drop in a big whole under our bed it might scare you.”

But before Fujigaya could form a triumphing smile Nikaido kissed him so he was the one on the winning side.

“Now I could drop you as well!”

“That’s unfair!”

Fujigaya wanted to turn away again, but Nikaido wouldn’t let him. Only their small giggles showed that they were actually not fighting, but enjoying their small teasing battle.

But the next moment Nikaido almost fell out the bed and Fujigaya just stopped in time before he almost dropped a whole wall on Kentaro when he slammed through the door panting.

“What the hell, Kentaro. Bad timing!” His older brother scolded him, but shut up when he saw his worried almost panicked expression. “What happened?”

“Wataru!”

Fujigaya stopped breathing on hearing his name.

“What?” Nikaido asked instead of him.

“He is back in the village.”

Nikaido turned to Fujigaya who had turned completely pale in the matter of seconds.

“No that can’t be. How? Why?” Fujigaya asked in a shaking voice. Even though he wanted to be happy, he was full of worry that this was a cruel dream and he was also feeling insecure for leaving him behind. He couldn't just go and face him like this, could he?

“Gaya, what is it? Let’s go!” Nikaido was already on his feet, but Fujigaya remained on the bed shaking his head.

“I can’t,” Fujigaya admitted and Nikaido saw straight through his behavior.

“Gaya, you don’t have to feel guilty. You can go to him, you can tell him how sorry you are that we left him behind, but you are also allowed to fall around his neck and cry because yes I know that you are so fucking happy right now that he is alive!”

“But how can I face him, after we left him behind. After I did nothing to help him?”

“Stop it, would you?” Nikaido said trying to keep his voice down. It was not the time to yell at him. “You did nothing wrong. If you want to blame someone blame me for knocking you out. Blame everyone who decided to leave him behind when you were against it!”

When he looked at Fujigaya’s wide eyes he realized that he had started yelling at him after all.

Nikaido took a deep breath waiting for Fujigaya to say something, but he just turned his face away. with his glittering eyes.

“Forget it. Stay here, if you want to.” With that Nikaido left him behind happy that he didn’t steal too much power of him before or he might have really dropped him in a hole.

***

Broken! That was the word Nikaido had in his mind the moment he saw Wataru.

Everyone was already gathered in Miyata’s rebuilt house keeping their distance while Miyata was examining him. He looked bad no question, but at least he would be alright again or at least that is what Nikaido hoped for.

“A good rest and a few medications and you should be good,” Miyata announced with a smile.

Nikaido remained in the background leaning at the doorframe while Tegoshi approached him looking to the ground guilty before he kneeled down.

“Tegoshi, please stop it!” Wataru definitely didn’t want them to feel guilty. Nikaido knew that the best. He was the one standing right in front of him facing him when he made the decision to stay behind.

“But we left you behind and we didn’t try to save you. There is so much to apologize for and so many reasons for you to never forgive us.”

“No Yuya, there is nothing to forgive, because there is nothing to apologize for. Let’s speak openly, you thought I was dead, of course you would think that, I thought myself that I would be dead the moment I decided to stay behind.”

Tegoshi still remained on his knees clenching his fists while trying to blink his tears away.

Nikaido turned around when he realized that someone has stepped behind him. He didn’t speak up when he saw that it was Fujigaya obviously hiding, trying not be seen by Wataru.

“Watta, if you want to rest for now, we will leave you alone for a while,” Senga said putting a hand on his shoulder. He was the one who saw him coming out the forest not believing his eyes. He wondered how he had managed to come back here in his condition and there were other things not just he, but everyone wanted to know.

“Ask!” Wataru said suddenly.

“What do you mean?” Of course Senga wanted to ask so many things, but was it really the right moment?

“Why did they not kill you?”

It was Ryosuke who spoke up making everyone stare at him.

“I’m sorry, that I’m so direct. But you said we should ask and I really want to know what happened in the city, why they didn’t kill you and how you came back here. But as Senga said it doesn’t have to be now.” Ryosuke lowered his voice on his last sentence kind of apologizing for his harsh questions.

“That’s right, don’t overdo it!” Miyata tried to convince him.

“No it has to be now!” Wataru said in such a serious voice that everyone fell silent.

“They are coming and they have a new weapon, a dangerous one!”

Everyone listened careful to what he had to say. Their faces turning paler and their eyes wider with every sentence.

Nikaido felt like he couldn’t breathe anymore when Wataru fell silent again.

He had to bring to his mind once more what he had heard. Why did they let him go, when they were about to attack them? Why did they give them the chance to be prepared when they attack?

The thought of a civil war between realitists and phenomenists was bad enough, but knowing that they had a secret weapon made everything even worse.

“And they really didn’t tell you what this secret weapon is?” Ryosuke asked after a while, making everyone wake up out of their shocked state.

“No this is unfortunately a secret which they kept to themselves.”

“So why did they let you go?” Hokuto asked. “So that we can sit here in panic and wait for them to attack and kill us all?”

“Calm down Hokuto!” Senga warned him when he raised his voice against Wataru. “Come on Senga, this is weird! It doesn’t make any sense.”

“So what do you want to say? That he is a spy?” Keiichiro asked angry. “You don’t even know what happened that day!”

“And we all don’t know what happened in the meanwhile when he was in the city.”

While they glared at each other Nikaido’s look fell on Wataru who rose up while Miyata supported him a little bit. He looked even worse than a few moments before.

“You really think he betrayed us?” Now Aran and Myuto asked, siding against Hokuto as well.

“As Hokuto said we don’t know what happened. He told us about the realitists and the secret weapon, but not about what happened to him.” While Ryosuke took the side of Hokuto, Wataru was about to approach them signaling Miyata that he could walk on his own.

“You can be so stubborn, how about you just trust him!” Myuto said with a flick of his tongue.

“Then we should just ask him!” Ryosuke replied turning around to Wataru, but before he could explain anything Fujigaya rushed passed Nikaido and stopped between them facing Ryosuke.

Everyone stayed silent when Fujigaya lunged out and gave Ryosuke a resounding slap.

Ryosuke wanted to shout something at him at first, but he shut up the moment he looked up at him again and then looked past him at Wataru. For a moment he looked to the ground before he left the room followed by Hokuto.

“Taisuke,” Wataru whispered his name in a mixture of astonishment and relief.

But Fujigaya didn’t reply anything instead he turned around to him and pulled him in a tight hug.

Wataru let out a small chuckle clapping Fujigaya on the back before hugging him back.

The others tried to snug away giving them a moment alone. Nikaido could see the tears in Wataru’s eyes before he left the room with the others. He knew that what those two had to talk about would never leave this room and this would be the best for them all. It was enough if one knew what happened to Wataru in the city and even though Nikaido wanted to comfort Fujigaya who was still feeling more than guilty about leaving Wataru behind, he knew that this was no the time for him to be at his side.

“Nii-san!” Kentaro ran after Nikaido followed by Taiga after everyone split up leaving Miyata’s house in small groups, everyone in their own thoughts about Wataru and the approaching danger from the city.

“Taiga, are you okay?” Nikaido put his hand on his shoulder seeing that he looked really worried.

“Yes. It’s just that I’m a little bit worried about my brother.”

“Why is that?”

“It was hard enough for him to lose our older brother and leave Wataru behind. The guilt that he didn’t search for him and didn't try to rescue him, because he thought he was dead might be too much for him.”

“Don’t worry. He will be alright!” Nikaido didn’t just want to comfort him, he really believed in what he said and Taiga seemed to know that forming a small smile.

After Fujigaya had told him all about what happened to Mitsu and they had talked about his pain and problems he was sure that he wouldn't shut himself away again. That he showed up in front of Wataru was proof enough for him.

“Kentaro you should take Taiga to our house for now. Let’s wait for them and talk about everything later.”

He saw that both Kentaro and Taiga were exhausted from all this uproar and he wanted them to take at least a last good rest before they had to start their strategy planning for their fight against the city.

Nikaido would never admit it in front of the younger ones that he was more than afraid of what was about to happen to the lives they knew until now.

The war, the bomb, the phenomenist powers and all that happened until know was bad enough, but no one knew if the realitists would be able to finally get the upper hand through their new weapon.

But for now Nikaido would give himself the time to at least try to rest in the calm before the storm.

  
  



	17. into the battlefield

 

_„Watch out!“ Nikaido wasn’t fast enough. He wanted to at least build a shield of stone in front of Fujigaya, but before he could even use the rest of power he had left the realitist had sunk the new weapon right into Fujigaya’s chest._

_He wanted to catch him when he fell, but he couldn’t reach him. He could see the blood running down his chest, his empty eyes and he could feel how the power which was given to him by Fujigaya was fading away until there was nothing left._

_“No ...”_

_He was lying on the ground, lifeless. Nikaido wanted to move, but he couldn’t. He wanted to at least touch his warm skin one last time, sit next to him and let the desperation come over him. But it seemed like all this was not allowed. It seemed like fate would now even make fun out of his misery when he got dragged away from him and when he thought it couldn’t get worse he saw the fire. A burning torch and then there were all the others. Keiichiro, Hokuto, just all the other phenomenists lying next to Fujigaya._

_When they threw the last body on the ground Nikaido froze._

_“Kentaro,” First he whispered like this was a joke, but when the person with the torch walked towards them he started struggling against the hands holding on to him. “NO, STOP IT! Kentaro! Gaya!”_

_But he couldn’t do anything. Horrified he had to watch how the torch fell and light the bodies on fire._

_“NO!”_

Hands again, but warm comforting ones when he opened his eyes.

“Nika, are you okay?” Fujigaya was sitting next to him on his bed after he had woken up screaming.

“A dream,” Nikaido said not really convinced. He squeezed Fujigaya’s hand just to make sure that he was really awake and Fujigaya really alive. “Just a really bad dream.”

***

They were lined up on the border of the village, everyone willing to fight. Worry and fear was showing on their faces, especially the younger ones were all restless. A stone broke here, a small crack appeared there around the phenomenists, showing their worries about the fight that was lying in front of them.

Tegoshi and Massu had rushed back to the village about an hour ago with bad news. A group of realitists was moving towards their direction.

“They are coming straight at us,” Tegoshi had announced worried.

“Did they follow you here?” Massu had asked Wataru, but he shook his head.

“I’m not a phenomenist, but I would have noticed that. I even checked for some kind of tracing device in my clothes.”

They had moved faster than everyone had expected. They were still discussing their tactics and had no time to set their planned traps in the forest.

So now they were all standing in line waiting for the realitists to come out the forest. They had a strategy. A really chaotic and not really thought through one, but at least some kind of plan they could stuck to, unless their secret weapon had so much destruction force that they couldn’t even make a move.

“You think Keiichiro can do it?” Senga asked looking at Wataru worried.

“His phenomenistic powers work better with analyzes than with pure strength though I think he can at least get some data he wouldn’t see while fighting. We just have to get him enough time to analyze their new weapon then he can attack.”

Keiichiro was hiding in the woods waiting for the realitists to pass him. Wataru had asked him to first analyze the fight, because if there was a way to fight against their new weapon he would be the first one to figure it out.

“They are here!”Tegoshi announced before the others could even see them. But all the phenomenists had felt it one after the other as they approached the border and then finally they came out the forest.

Tama and Kato were at the front. Tama already an evil smile on his lips as he saw them, definitely seeking for revenge. There were three men walking right behind them, one was kind of muscular compared to the rest of them he was called Tomohisa, right next to him there was a smaller one, but his eyes were telling right away that he was maybe the most dangerous one, Ryo. With crossed arms and a light smile on his lips the last man was walking or more like almost dancing beside them as if he couldn’t wait for the fight to start, Yara.

The other ones following them were to everyone’s surprise more boys than men. At least the fight was even if you judged it by age.

“Taisuke, stop it!” Taiga growled from his side.

“What do you mean?” He asked confused, but got an answer right away when his little brother pointed behind them and he could see how a small tornado was forming.

“We had this discussion before, right? I’m going to fight alone and you have to fight without the urge to protect me or you might hurt more of us than of them.”

“It’s really not on purpose!” Fujigaya tried to defend himself, but Taiga was still looking at him skeptic.

“We don’t have time for this!” Nikaido hissed from the side eyes fixed on the approaching realitists.

They stopped a few meters away from them, but stayed silent.

Nikaido scanned them with his eyes, but he couldn’t see some special weapon. There were swords, knifes and definitely a few hidden weapons. But other than this he couldn’t make anything else out.

“Fukka, Iwamoto, Nozawa!” Kato shouted when three of the boys came to the front. “Akito, Junta!”

Another two came to the front stopping on the other side of Kato. He nodded to both sides and before anyone could prepare for an attack they split up.

Massu attacked the remaining ones in front of him right away aiming for Tama and Kato, but Ryo and Tomohisa attacked from the side when he was about to open a crack towards them so that he had to jump back stopping his attack.

“Follow them, don’t let them disappear between the buildings!” Tegoshi shouted making the younger ones run after the two divided groups.

“Watch out!” Nikaido grabbed Fujigaya at the back on his shirt when he was about to follow after Taiga who was running off with Kentaro, Hokuto and Ryosuke to follow Fukka and the others.

While Tomohisa and Ryo had distracted Tegoshi and Massu, Tama and Kato had rushed over to Nikaido and Fujigaya. Nikaido just noticed in the last moment that Tama had thrown some sort of grenade towards them or more like a self made fire bomb which would have hit Fujigaya if he wouldn’t have pulled him back. The impact of the small bomb was so huge that it took them both of their feet.

Fujigaya landed on top of him and he used the blind spot of Tama and Kato to steal some power from Fujigaya.

The moment Kato rushed forward drawing his sword Nikaido pushed Fujigaya off him shoving a stone into Kato’s stomach so that he stumbled backwards cursing.

Then his eyes fell on Tama and he was still smiling even when Fujigaya opened a crack in front of him which would definitely make him fall deep if he wouldn’t jump to the side, but he wasn’t moving.

Instead he pulled out a gun. The moment Nikaido was about to leap forward Kato was back on his feet blocking his way and then the shot fell.

***

Meanwhile the younger ones tried to stop the other realitists from entering the village.

“Kentaro run around the storage and cut their way!” Ryosuke shouted towards him when he and Taiga took another route while Kentaro went around the building perfectly stopping in front of Nozawa, Fukka and Iwamoto.

When Ryosuke and Taiga approached them from behind Nozawa ran off alone.

“I’ll take care of him!” Ryosuke shouted leaving the others to Taiga and Kentaro.

Taiga drew his short sword with which he was practicing all the time with Senga, for him it was the most effective weapon. Heavy or long weapons weren’t meant for him Senga had told him.

Fukka and Iwamoto attacked right away. They were already so near that it was hard for Kentaro to react in time. When Iwamoto lunged out for a punch with metal knucks he had on his fists he dodged it while sliding on the wind around him.

Taiga had dodged Fukka’s long-sword as well now trying to fight him off, but he was fast and his reach was way longer than his. He needed an opening so he tried to dodge as much as possible to make him get tired and there it was,  the opening he was waiting for. But the moment he knocked the sword out of Fukka’s hand and stepped forward inside his reach Fukka had spun out of the attack. Taiga realized too late that Fukka had intentional given Taiga a chance to attack so he would come inside his reach.

He put his arm around Taiga's throat and the moment he wanted to struggle he felt a sharp pain on the side of his throat.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” Fukka warned him holding a knife directly to his throat which had already cut him through his struggling, making the blood run down to his collarbone.

“Hey you there, phenomenist!” He shouted over to Kentaro the moment he made Iwamoto stumble over a root and was about to let him drop in a crack, but stopped his movements the moment he saw the knife on Taiga’s throat.

Iwamoto used his distraction to get back on his feet. He kicked Kentaro from behind making him fall over with a painful gasp.

“Kentaro!” Taiga didn’t want to be the reason for him to lose this fight, but even though he knew it was selfish he didn’t want to die either. They had lost one brother already he wouldn’t leave his older brother behind as well. So he needed a plan, a good and fast one.

***

Akito and Junta had split up making it hard for Myuto, Kishi and Aran to follow them.

“Myuto try to get them behind the city hall if they try to go right, Aran you go left!” Kishi shouted over to them while he ran through the small alleys between their houses to not lose sight of them.

Then there was some movement at the corner of his eye after he wasn't sure anymore where they had run off to and he was already spinning around ready to attack when he redirected his stone wall to the side just in time before it hit Aran.

“Woha, that was dangerous!” A really shocked Aran scolded him.

“Then say something the next time you approach me! At the moment I will attack everything that moves!”

“That moves!” Aran almost screamed before dragging Kishi out of the way when another self made fire bomb was thrown in their direction. For a moment they hid behind a building until Akito and Junta came in sight.

“Time for try No.2!” Aran whispered taking Kishi’s head in his hands to make him face him.

“What? No, Aran wait!” But there was no time to wait. Aran put his lips on his and this time Kishi succeeded in staying calm and transfer his powers to Aran.

“Oh that’s not good.” Kishi admitted seeing Aran’s excited face as he realized that it had worked.

“No not good, even better!” Aran smiled at him before he jumped out their hideout and made the buildings around their opponents drop on them without any kind of hesitation.

"Great now we have to explain to Massu and Tegoshi later why their house is gone."

***

Senga and Wataru were stopped by Yara as they tried to follow the others. Wataru tried several attacks on him, but he was just too fast. He was jumping and swirling around them without a break.

“I just can’t get a grip on him!” Wataru growled in an already exhausted voice. Since he had come back into the village he had no time to get back to full strength.

“Let me handle this!” Senga said confident, making his knuckles crack as he put his fist into his hand while moving his head from one side to the other, stretching his neck.

“So you think you’ll have a chance against me?” Yara asked even more confident.

“No I don’t think so, I know it!”

Senga jumped forward trying to lunge out for a punch, but Yara dodged it while crouching down trying to bring Senga out of balance through a foot sweep. But Senga jumped at the perfect moment and kicked Yara into the stomach the moment he landed. The kick was hard, but not hard enough. Yara took a grip on his leg before he could draw it back, turned it around and hit Senga in the knee pit with his elbow making him scream out.

When Yara tried to lunge out once more Senga spun around stabilizing himself through Yara’s grip on his leg and hit Yara against his head with a spinning kick.

They both went to the ground, but Yara was on his feet faster than him approaching him again this time pulling out a knife.

***

“This guy is driving me insane!” Massu yelled while Ryo seemed to foresee and dodge all his attacks.

“Thank you!”

“That was not a compliment!” Massu shouted before letting a tree drop, but of course Ryo got away in time.

“Screw you!”

“Massu calm down! You have to focus!” Tegoshi shouted at him over his shoulder.

“You should focus yourself!”

Tegoshi let out a small cry when a throwing knife scratched his cheek when he turned around. Tomohisa was holding the knives in his hands playing around with them.

Tegoshi wanted to make the earth shake so he would lose balance and he had enough time to create something for an attack, but the moment he tried to focus on his legs Tomohisa threw another knife, so fast that Tegoshi couldn’t dodge it. It dug into his tight and this time he cried out so loud that Massu got distracted.

“Tegoshi!” He wanted to run over to him, but then his knees gave in.

“Finally!” Ryo said satisfied. "You have a good stamina, but so outraged as you are it was really just a matter of time for you to break down."

“No stop it!” Tegoshi tried to rush over to Massu when he saw that Ryo approached him with his sword ready to draw it, but the moment he turned around he felt another sharp pain this time in his back and then another one. On the third one he finally went on his knees!

“TEGOSHI!” Massu wanted to reach out for him, but his body wouldn’t move and then he heard how Ryo draw the sword behind him and before he could turn around he sliced over his back with it making him scream out in pain.

Tegoshi saw how Massu fell to the ground, immobile.

For a moment everything around him fell silent and a tear, one single tear escaped his eye and the moment it hit the grass he freaked.

 


	18. the true face of war

 

There it was, the same scene he had seen in his dream. He froze for a moment when Tama had shot, and then he turned to Fujigaya. He held his shoulder, but he wasn’t hurt too badly. It was different from his dream.

Then he heard Tegoshi screaming and when he looked to the side where Massu and him where fighting he saw how Massu was lying on the ground and Tegoshi was about to freak. He was kind of relieved that they had at least enough space between them so he wouldn’t kill them by accident.

Senga and Wataru seemed to have their problems as well, but he knew that they could win they had to win.

“You are open!”

Before Nikaido realized that Kato was still standing in front of him he lunged forward. Nikaido was fast enough to dodge his first attack, but when he tried to raise a stone wall in front of him he realized that he was out of powers again, this time he wasn’t fast enough when Kato sliced the sword through his face. He pulled away in the last moment so that the cut wasn’t too deep.

Nikaido wanted to attack again when he realized that Kato wasn’t looking at him anymore. He was staring at Fujigaya with a satisfied smile and when Nikaido turned around he realized that he hadn’t moved since he was shot and even the crack had stopped right in front of Tamamori’s feet.

And then he went on his knees, he wasn’t screaming nor bleeding too much. But when he looked at Nikaido with wide eyes he realized that something was off with this gun.

“It seems to work!” Kato said satisfied gaining a nod from Tama who was about to walk around the crack approaching Fujigaya.

“Gaya, run!” Nikaido tried to run over to him, but he was so concentrated on him that he forgot about Kato.

He had jumped in front of him hitting him in the stomach making him gasp. Nikaido tried to lunge out for a punch, but Kato was faster this time spinning around him taking his arm with him holding it on his back before kicking him in the back of his knee making him go to the ground.

“Be a good boy and watch the show!” He whisperedinto is ear chuckling.

When Nikaido looked at Fujigaya again his expression had changed. He clenched his hand in the fabric on his shoulder and his face showed pain.

“And how does it feel?” Tama had stopped right in front of him crouching down. Fujigaya obviously tried to form or lift something when he moved his free hand, but in shock he realized that nothing happened. He wasn’t too weak to use his powers he could feel that, but somehow it felt like they were stuck inside of him. That would explain the weird pain. It wasn’t the wound itself causing the pain, but something inside his body, all over his body.

“Let me see.” Tama reached out for his shoulder.

“Let go!” Fujigaya tried to fight him off, but it was no use. His efforts were like from an elementary school kid. Tamamori shrugged his hands of pushing him to the ground ripping his shirt open were the bullet entered.

“You might want to see this as well.” Kato rose Nikaido up taking him with him next to Fujigaya.

When his look fell on the wound of the bullet he froze in shock.

“Crytalile?” He whispered when he saw how everything around the wound was covered in some kind of rainbow colored liquid.

“Isn’t it awesome?” Tama was examining the wound like it would be some kind of masterpiece.

“You deserve an explanation of what is going on. This little bullet is just too awesome to not get explained.” Tama got up again showing the gun to Nikaido and Fujigaya. The gun was looking complete normal to them at first sight, but then they saw that it was kind of glittering the same way as the crytalile.

“Do you know how hard it is to put crytalile in the shape of a bullet? It’s almost impossible. But we did it, I would like to explain to you how, but for that we have no time. Shortcut: The bullet has a huge volume of liquid crytalile stored in it which is compromised and when in contact with another material it will melt. That’s exactly why we had to cover the gun with crytalile as well otherwise the bullet would have already melted inside of it.”

While Nikaido was looking at him disbelieving Fujigaya couldn’t concentrate on Tama’s words anymore. The pain grew bigger and bigger, it felt like his body caught fire from the inside.

“Unfortunately those bullets are hard to produce and there is not so much crytalile. You can be happy this was the only bullet we had with us.” He looked at Fujigaya again before continuing. “You will be the first one to show us how the bullet works.”

Seeing Tama’s satisfied face, hearing the fighting around him and seeing how Fujigaya suffered Nikaido couldn’t take it anymore. He had freed himself out of Kato’s grip so fast that he didn’t even know what was happening when he threw him over his shoulder. Tama wanted to draw his sword, but Nikaido was faster picking Kato’s sword up and stopping right in front of Tama with the sword stabbed to his stomach.

“You little bastard!” Tama growled in a weak voice when blood was running out his mouth. Nikaido didn’t feel guilty. He knew that Wataru tried to not kill too many people, but this fight was different and he knew that himself. They couldn’t keep them all captive and they wouldn’t let them escape back to the city.

Kato was back on his feet, but when Nikaido realized that he was approaching him from behind he pulled the sword out of Tama’s body making him fall to the ground and then he just swirled around slicing through Kato’s throat who couldn’t even scream out anymore.

Nikaido was covered in blood holding on to the sword with shaking hands breathing hard. He never killed someone before, but if it was about his family and friends he wouldn’t hold back.

When he looked over to Tegoshi the last thing he saw of the fight was Ryo and Tomohisa falling into a huge crack screaming when Tegoshi didn’t just let them drop, but closed the crack again to crush them. So Nikaido wasn’t the only one getting over-violent over emotions in this fight. But he couldn’t blame him.

He would have liked to help them seeing how Tegoshi broke down crawling over to Massu not knowing if he was still alive, but he had to take care of Fujigaya first.

***

While Taiga was still trying to get out of Fukka’s grip he had to watch how Iwamoto was beating up Kentaro who was not even getting back on his feet anymore.

“Excuse me?”

Taiga turned around when Fukka was ripped away from him and then he saw a really outraged Kishi wrapping him up with roots so that he was stuck to the ground.

“Aran, Kishi!”

“You can thank us later!” Aran said chuckling hitting him light on the shoulder before approaching Iwamoto who let off Kentaro the moment he saw Aran approaching.

“You want something little boy?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I want you to give up. If you haven’t realized it you are outnumbered.”

“I can take you all on my own.”

Iwamoto lunged forward trying to hit Aran with his knucks, but Aran slid around him on the wind disappearing out of his field of view. Iwamoto realized too late that Kishi had been standing behind Aran now wrapping Iwamoto up in roots the same way as Fukka before.

“It seemed you finally are able to get his powers!” Kentaro said teasing when Aran helped him up putting his arm around his shoulder.

“And even better Kishi found out that his control of plants is unbelievable good. He wrapped the other realitists in roots so fast that I couldn’t even see it.”

“By the way where are Ryosuke and Myuto?” Aran asked worried.

“Ryosuke followed one of them earlier and wasn’t Myuto with you?” Taiga asked.

“We split up, we thought he might have joined your fight.”

“Let’s search for them!”

This time they stayed together following the way Ryosuke had ran off to. After they turned around a few corners their look fell on a body on the ground.

“MYUTO!”

Kishi and Taiga ran over to him, but when Taiga turned him around everyone held their breaths.

“Kishi? Kentaro?” Taiga didn’t want to ask directly, but when Kishi and Kentaro shook their heads he knew what it meant. They couldn’t feel his presence anymore.

“But he isn’t wounded, is he?” Aran asked confused standing next to him still supporting Kentaro.

“Who knows what happened. He might have had internal bleedings.” Taiga whispered trying to make his voice stop shaking.

“Shit!” Kishi yelled hitting the ground next to Myuto when a tear ran down his cheek. “That’s not fair.”

“Hey!” Everyone turned around when Ryosuke was running towards them from the forest.

“Ryosuke!” They all screamed together.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Taiga asked scanning Ryosuke’s body.

“I’m fine, don’t worry. How is Myuto?” But when he saw everyone’s look he went pale. “No, that can’t be!”

He sat down next to him stroking over his face.

“It’s my fault! Because I wasn’t fast enough!” He judged himself while he whipped away the tears.

“What do you mean?” Kishi asked.

“I was following the other realitist, but I lost sight of him and then I heard Myuto screaming. The moment I found him I saw how the realitist tried to flee to the forest. I wanted to help Myuto, but I knew it was too dangerous to let him escape so I followed him. I wanted to bring him back, but in the end I had to kill him.” Ryosuke paused for a moment. “When I would have known that he was wounded so bad I wouldn’t have left him behind.”

“It’s not your fault, don’t be so hard to yourself!” Taiga said comforting stroking over his back.

When they stood silent for a moment the heard a gunshot and screams from the other side of the village.

“Let’s go! For now we have to help the others!” Taiga said nodding towareds everyone.

“Are you sure you can walk alone?” Aran asked when Kentaro signalized him to let go of him.

“Yes thank you. The healing powers are kind of useful!”

“Let’s go!” Kishi shouted waving at them to follow.

***

“No, Wataru!” Senga shouted when Wataru had tackled Yara from the side so they both fell over. Now they were lying on the ground struggling over the knife, but Yara obviously was stronger sitting on top of him now trying to put the knife down to his throat and Wataru’s arms were about to give in.

Senga’s surroundings finally stopped spinning after he had landed hard on the ground after his own attack. He jumped up kicking Yara off him. He got a grip on the knife, but Yara wouldn’t let go of it so easily.

When Wataru tried to attack from behind Yara kicked him into the stomach making him gasp before turning around again throwing Senga over his shoulder without any kind of warning so that he flew directly into Wataru.

“Fighting with you two is really fun!” Yara said chuckling jumping and dancing around them.

“Let’s see if it is still so much fun when I turn the fight around!” Senga growled standing up again. But this time all his attacks went into nothing. It seemed like Yara would have played with them until now. He moved even faster than before.

“Would you hold still!” Senga shouted at him punching and kicking wild around him.

Wataru got back on his feet as well, but got kicked away again when he tried to interfere into the fight.

“Stop moving so much!” Senga tried to get a grip on him now instead of hitting him, but it was still no use!

But when he was almost sure of loosing this fight Yara abrupt stopped moving, but his look told him that it wasn’t on purpose. When they both looked down on his feet there was a root holding it to the ground.

“Go for it Senga!” Kishi shouted over to him followed by the other younger ones.

“Seems like it’s my turn now!” Senga added with a lopsided smile before kicking him with a spinning kick so he lost conscious.

“Thanks, Kishi!” Senga clapped him on the shoulder when they finally caught up with them.

“Are you alright Wataru?” Ryosuke asked helping him up.

“Yeah thank you. Are you all alright?”

No one answered and Wataru knew exactly what that meant. He looked at them for a moment before letting out a long breath.

“Myuto…” He realized when he didn’t see him with them.

“It’s my fault.” Ryosuke started again getting a glare from the others.

“Ryosuke I can see that’s not true. I know it’s hard, but we are still in the middle of a battle and even if it is hard sometimes we lose the important people around us.” He said comforting rubbing Ryosuke over the back before turning around to the others.

“We are all allowed to mourn his death, but not know. I’m sorry, but I have to ask of you to stay strong for now!”

Everyone nodded knowing that he was right.

 


	19. Self-destruction

 

„Nii-san!“

„Taisuke!“

The moment they arrived at the place where Nikaido and Fujigaya were fighting it was already over. Nikaido was sitting next to Fujigaya while Kentaro and Taiga rushed over the moment they saw them.

“What happened here?” Aran asked with wide eyes seeing Tama and Kato on the ground and then his look fell on fallen trees, huge stones cracked out of the earth and many cracks on the ground a few hundred meters away.

“TEGOSHI! MASSU!” The moment Aran had seen them on the ground Wataru took action.

“Everyone calm down! Kentaro, Kishi, Ryosuke take a look at Tegoshi and Massu. I know you had to use much of your powers already, but if possible heal them as much as you can.” With his orders they rushed over to them even though Kentaro struggled with himself seeing that Fujigaya and Nikaido didn’t seem so well either.

“Senga and Aran try to find Keiichiro. I can’t see him anywhere. But be careful we don’t know if there is some kind of backup!”

“Wataru!”

“Kento, Miyata! Good timing!”

Kento and Miyata had remained hidden in the village exactly for a situation like this. Kento was still not so used to his powers, he would have been a danger to himself and they couldn’t let their only doctor fight.

“Miyata, please hurry!” This time it was Nikaido who spoke up. Taiga had already sat down next to his brother who was at least still conscious, but in much pain.

“What happened to him?” Miyata asked while he examined the wound.

Nikaido gave them a short explanation of their weapon, before everyone fell silent.

“That’s not good,” Miyata said with a desperate sigh.

“What do you mean? Miyata, can’t you help him?” Wataru asked worried.

“No, Miyata. Please you have to do something!” When Miyata shook his head Taiga was about to break down, he couldn’t lose another brother.

“Taiga!” Fujigaya had taken his little brother’s hand, squeezing it with the last strength he could bring up.

“Taisuke! Please don’t leave me!”

 “It will be alright, Taiga. I won’t die. It looks worse than it is.” He tried to form a smile, but his pain was visible to everyone and it seemed to get worse with every breath he took.

“Miyata?” Nikaido started in a calm voice.

“Yes?”

“They made this weapon extra against Phenomenists, right?”

“I guess so, why?”

“That would mean that it’s something that wouldn’t affect humans or at least don’t kill them, because otherwise it would be dangerous for them as well if we reproduced it!”

“You could be right, but we can’t be sure about that. Anyways, of what help would that be?”

Wataru was the one who understood first what Nikaido was planning.

“Nikaido that’s too risky,” Wataru scolded him.

“It’s our only chance!” He looked at Wataru determined and the other one knew that there was no way to change his mind.

“What’s going on?” In cofusion Taiga looked from one to the other.

“Taiga, come here for a moment!” Wataru waved him over to him and reluctantly he let go of his brother’s hand standing up with Miyata to make space for Nikaido.

“Gaya, this better work!” He told him in a light scolding voice.

“You normally have the weirdest plans and they always worked until now!” Fujigaya replied with a brief smile.

“Just shut up!” Nikaido smiled at him one last time before he kissed him. He could feel how Fujigaya’s powers went into his body. His body was used to a little bit of his powers, but not all of it. The problem was that this time he had to take away all his powers at once. It was the only way to save him, if his theory was right and the crytalile was attacking the mutated DNA.

When the powers were taken from a phenomenist the DNA seemed to change back to normal at least for a short time, that’s what Miyata found out through Nikaido’s and Fujigaya’s power exchanges.

He felt how Fujigaya’s breathing calmed down and then finally he backed off. Fujigaya had passed out, taking his powers was weakening him the same way as if he used them too much. Nikaido smiled at him before the pressure of his powers crushed down on him and he fainted as well.

***

“Nii-san? Can you hear me?”

Nikaido had a huge headache when he opened his eyes again. He was in Miyata’s house his little brother sitting next to his bed. When he looked around he saw Massu and Tegoshi lying next to him. More than relieved that they were alive he let out a long sigh. But when he recalled what had happened in the end he sat up way too fast making everything in front of his eyes spin.

“Nii-san, calm down!”

“Where is he? Where is Gaya?” Kentaro looked away for a moment and Nikaido’s heart dropped to his feet.

“No, don’t tell me…”

“No, don’t worry. He survived!” Kentaro explained seeing how pale his brother went in the matters of seconds. “It’s just…”

“Just what? Kentaro spill it out!”

“He changed,” He whispered.

“Changed? What do you mean?” Again no answer. “Okay that’s enough I’ll see for myself.”

Nikaido got up, dressing as fast as possible and stumbling out the house, ignoring Kentaro’s shouting.

“Wataru! Where is he? What’s going on?” The moment he came out of the house he saw Wataru and Miyata. He had to stop himself from already taking him by the collar when he reacted almost the same way as Kentaro.

“We have a little problem or more like he has one.”

“Would you all stop talking nonsense and tell me where he is so I can talk to him.”

“That won’t be so easy,” Taiga said approaching them and finally there was someone who didn’t look as worried as the others.

“Come with me, I bring you to him.”

“Taiga you really think that’s a good idea?” Wataru asked him worried.

“If Nikaido can’t do anything, no one can!” He said as a conclusion, signaling Nikaido to follow him.

“So what’s going on here?” Nikaido asked again when they went to the northern border of the village towards the forest.

“Before I tell you about my brother, I have to tell you something else.”

“What?” Nikaido sounded angry and worried at the same time, even though he wanted to be patient, because there was no reason to get angry at Taiga. But what could be more important than Fujigaya at the moment?

“We might have a traitor at the village.”

“What? Who?”

“I’m still not sure, but something was weird about this fight. I guess you still don’t know, but Myuto and Keiichiro were killed.”

Nikaido stayed silent for a moment, he hadn’t even thought about the possibility that some of them might have died during the battle.

“Ryosuke chased after a realitist, he lost sight of him and then he heard Myuto screaming. The realitist killed Myuto and Ryosuke rushed after him in the forest to catch him, but in the end he had to kill him. The weird thing is Keiichiro’s death. He was hiding in the woods as you know and we were the only ones knowing. Senga and Aran found him after the fight. There was no sign of a fight, just an arrow through his back so he must have been ambushed. But there was no backup of the realitists. Senga checked the borders later and there was no sign of someone else, so who killed him?”

“So you mean it was someone of us?”

“The weird thing is that while Keiichiro died through an arrow, Myuto was completely unhurt. Miyata examined him and said that there were not even internal bleedings. It was more some kind of DNA destruction. Beside Miyata, Wataru, you and me, no one knows about this theory and I have the feeling your brother already got a clue about what’s going on as well. If all those happenings have something to do with their weapon, my brother is the one most in danger and you are the one who can protect him the best.”

“So what exactly happened to him?”

“You’ll see.”

They walked deeper northwards to the cliffs and there he finally came in sight. He looked normal to Nikaido at first sight. At least he was still alive and not hurt and that was the most important part for him.

“Taisuke!” Taiga shouted from a few meters away and the moment he turned around seeing Nikaido next to him he tensed.

Nikaido walked towards him, but suddenly he was stopped. Stopped by a wall he couldn’t really see. When he touched it a rainbow colored glow appeared around his hand.

“You are kidding me! Taiga what’s going on?” Nikaido asked him instead of Fujigaya, knowing that he wouldn’t explain it to him the way he was already looking away guilty.

“It’s some kind of new power. You know when you took away his powers his cells needed some time to rebuild and somehow the crytalile is now part of his DNA. But he can’t control it, so he always runs around with barriers around himself or traps people in it when they try to approach him. It works like a crytalile cell. If he puts it on someone else you can take him out through a cut, we already had to do that with me before.”

Nikaido raised an eyebrow on that.

“Wait for how long did I sleep?”

“Three days in a row.” He said like it would be totally normal.

“What?”

“Be happy, Tegoshi and Massu will sleep for a whole week Miyata said. It was a miracle that Kishi and the others could save them, they were more than badly hurt and Tegoshi had used so much power that it would have ripped everyone else apart if it wouldn’t have been him.

“So I can just cut this thing open and go to him or not?”

“That’s the problem, for him it works in reverse. It’s like the perfect defense shield and if he doesn’t undo it himself you can’t get near him.”

“Would you leave us alone for a moment?” He finally asked seeing that Fujigaya went paler with every sentence Taiga said.

“Sure. Oh and Nikaido, I think you are really the only one in the village who can make him control this powers. So take your time,” Taiga said with a brief smile before leaving.

For a moment both remained silent before Nikaido sighed deeply making Fujigaya look up at him.

“What?”

“You stupid arrogant asshole!”

Fujigaya held his breath for a moment as if he thought he misheard that.

“You think this is funny?” Fujigaya asked after a moment, but it was definitely the wrong thing to ask judging on Nikaido’s angry stare.

“Funny? You know what’s funny? When you wake up after three days, after you had almost lost someone really important, not sure if you would survive yourself or if the other one had survived and exactly this person IS NOT THERE!”

When Nikaido started yelling at him he tried to calm down again, this wouldn't help them right now. After taking a few deep breaths he looked at Fujigaya again tears glittering in his eyes.

“I don’t know what exactly happened, but I know that you are not the type to get this under control on your own. So why are you running away from everyone? Sure you can trap people in cells by accident or trap yourself, but you can’t actually hurt someone, right?”

Fujigaya still didn’t answer now trying to hide his own tears.

“Please, Gaya. Let me come over to you.”

He shook his head turning away from him.

“I can hurt someone!”

“What?”

Fujigaya turned around again stretching his arm towards a tree and then he made a crytalile cell appear around the lower part of the tree. First nothing happened, but then there was the typical glow at the root of the tree and Nikaido couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Because Fujigaya just trapped the lower part of the tree the cell wasn’t complete. The root was in its way so it started to close itself crushing everything in its way, the same way as the cell in the city did. It cut the tree into half making it fall into the forest.

Nikaido didn’t say anything, he just stared in shock.

“See? I’m dangerous. There is no way I’m going back.”

“Are you kidding me?”

Fujigaya flinched when Nikaido yelled at him again and hit against the cell.

“You were dangerous from the first moment I’ve seen you. Your powers were out of control every time you were worried about your brother. This is exactly the same, just with new powers.”

“No it’s not. It’s way more dangerous.”

“No it’s just different. Don’t be so stubborn and try to understand that you can learn how to control them. We learned how to heal someone, how to transfer powers and the same way you can learn how to use them.”

“No not this time!”

“GAYA!”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” A strong wind sliced like a sword through the stone floor and cut its way through the cell right next to Nikaido.

“See. Even my normal power seem to have gotten more dangerous.” Fujigaya turned away again, but Nikaido could see how the first tear rolled down his cheek and a light rain started.

For now he wouldn’t listen to him he knew that. He could say whatever he wanted to, but Fujigaya was so sure that he would hurt everyone around him that he wouldn’t let even him in for now.

“Maybe we can help.”

Nikaido swirled around looking into four unknown faces. As usual when it was about him and Fujigaya stuck in problematic situations they attracted even more problems with it. 

Nikaido draw his sword pointing it at the man in front. He was thin almost skinny, but his face showed something dangerous.

The blond and muscular one giggled as Nikaido had drawn the sword.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“Better listen to him, he is not the one to make jokes,” The third one said, a tall one smiling like all of this was a joke.

And the last one was just nodding, looking around like he was totally bored of this whole situation.

“Who are you?” Nikaido asked angry.

“No the question is who are you, human?” The one in front asked.

“That can’t be.” It was Fujigaya who spoke making Nikaido turn to him. He had walked up to him almost standing next to him when he stopped, but the barrier was still up.

“Kame, is that you?”

“Long time no see.” The one in front waved happily at Fujigaya and then something unbelievable happened. Fujigaya walked past Nikaido, resolving his barrier almost automatically and flung his arms around Kame’s neck like he would have totally forgotten about his fears that he could hurt someone.

So for Nikaido there were two big questions. Who were those guys Fujigaya obviously seemed to know and what made this one guy so special that Fujigaya felt so safe around him.

He wasn’t sure though if he really wanted to know the answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 


	20. secrets

 

„It’s so good to see you. Where were you all this time? Is everyone okay?”

“Wataru calm down! We have enough time to tell you everything. But yeah thanks, we are all okay and it’s good to see you all as well.”

Nikaido was still more than confused when the four strangers came into the village and everyone was so happy to see them. But the part which was bugging him the most was that Fujigaya came with them back to the village. He couldn’t convince him, but then those people came out of nowhere and everything seemed fine like he forgot about his new powers, which were so dangerous as he said himself.

He wanted to talk to Fujigaya in private, but he was clinging to Kame as if his life would depend on it, so he decided to first find someone who could explain all this to him.

“Taiga, would you mind telling me what is going on here?” Nikaido asked him while everyone was bombarding the four with questions.

“You want the detailed story or the shortcut.” He asked smiling.

“The shortcut, please. I have the feeling we would still talk tomorrow, if you would tell me the details.”

“You might be right with that,” He replied giggling. “Okay to say it as easy as possible, those four are Tegoshi’s and Massu’s trainers. They were one of the first phenomenists getting their powers. Their control of their powers is awesome. They trained Massu and Tegoshi and when they met Wataru and us they decided to found this village. But they didn’t remain here, they knew that there were other phenomenists northwards, living in fear not knowing what was going on with their own bodys, so they decided to travel over Japan to find and help them.”

Nikaido looked at them again scanning them with his eyes like that would help understanding them, but without powers he couldn’t feel their powers and Fujigaya was still too hyper to care for him at all. You would never think that three days ago there was a civil war going on here and they were all almost about to die. After all they had lost two of their friends and Nikaido didn't feel safe with new people showing up like this.

“I can’t see Mitsu, where is he? Tegoshi and Massu don’t seem around either!” One of them asked looking around.

"Nakamaru, you know..." Wataru started, but didn't seem to find the right words.

Everyone fell silent making the four stare at them worried.

“What happened? Don’t tell me they are-?” One of the others asked in panic.

"No, don't worry Junno, Massu and Tegoshi are just wounded, but Mitsu..."

"Wattaru cut the crap, would you finally say what is going on?"

"Tatsuya, calm down, we don't even know what happened," Kame scolded his comrade, but then Wataru let out a long sigh before he finally explained everything that happened to them.

Nikaido saw how Fujigaya’s expression went from relaxed to really tense as Wataru retold everything that happened from the day Mitsu was killed to what happened until today. In a shortcut version of course.

Normally Fujigaya would have left the room Nikaido was sure of it, but why wasn’t he? He could just walk out, he didn’t had to listen to all this again. Then finally Fujigaya looked at him.

Nikaido’s heart skipped a beat when their eyes met. He wanted to make a step forward. He wanted to drag him away from them, take him outside and hug him to tell him everything was alright, but before he even could make one step Fujigaya had looked away again clinging to Kame’s arm even more than before.

That was enough for him, he turned around and left the city hall where they were all gathered at the moment. For now he didn’t want to hear all those stories, he didn’t want to see how everyone was so excited while Massu and Tegoshi were still suffering and Myuto’s and Keiichiro’s death was just a few days ago. And of all he didn’t want to see Fujigaya being comforted by this person.

“Nii-san!” When Nikaido walked over to their house his little brother was running after him.

“What is it?” Nikaido asked in a more annoyed voice than he wanted to.

“You know I couldn’t really talk to you earlier. I know Fujigaya was more important at that moment, but I really need to tell to something.”

“Why should he be more important?” Nikaido asked angry, even though he knew that his brother wasn't at fault for his bad mood.

For a moment Kentaro didn’t know what to answer. He realized that it might not be the best moment to talk to him.

“Never mind,” Kentaro said apologizing trying to form a comforting smile, but he still felt uncomfortable. There was something really important he had to tell him or at least ask him about, but like this he wouldn’t even listen to him. “It might be better if you take a rest for now. You just woke up, you are still not fully recovered. I’m going on border duty this afternoon so I’ll see you in the evening.”

“Okay, sure.”

When Nikaido just turned around leaving him behind he felt completely left alone. He knew it was selfish of him to think that his brother would be all caring for him after he and Fujigaya had almost lost their lives in the battle, but this was the first time his brother had ignored him like that, not noticing that something really important was bothering him.

***

“Wow that’s awesome! When did you learn that?”

The moment Kentaro went back inside the city hall everyone stared from Kame to Fujigaya.

“It’s actually quite easy, if you understand how it works. Instead of trying to move or create something you concentrate on another person to not give, but possess him with your powers,” Kame explained while Kentaro joined the round again stopping next to Taiga.

“What are they doing?” He asked in a low voice.

“It’s amazing! Kame just transferred his powers to Fujigaya and now he can’t use any of his own powers anymore not even the new crytalile powers, he is like a normal human!”

“That’s why I felt so safe at your side earlier already, right?” Fujigaya asked.

“Yes, I saw how you struggled with your new powers, which are amazing by the way and the moment you had body contact with me I transferred my powers on you to at least weaken them a little bit.”

“This is not the only thing we learnt over the time,” Ueda announced proud. “We can also transfer our powers to someone to double them. Let’s say we three would give Kame our powers, then we could make him 3 times as strong if we would give him all our powers.”

“But those techniques are risky and need much training!” Nakamaru said warning as he looked in Kishi’s and Hokuto’s fascinated faces.

“With something like that we could attack the realitists, couldn’t we?”

On Ryosuke’s question Kentaro froze. He wouldn’t have expected him to ask something like that, maybe his worries were unfounded after all.

“To be honest we would like to talk about this topic with all of you!” Kame said honestly nodding at Wataru.

“Sure, but let’s for now get you some food. You must be exhausted, you should rest first and then we talk about everything else later.” Wataru said before turning around to the others. “Kishi and Senga would you go on patrol for the southern border? Aran and Kento you are going as backup just in case something happens, even though I don’t think they will sent any new troops without knowing what happened to their last troop.”

“So no one escaped to report to the city?” Nakamaru asked.

“No, we made sure that everyone was captured,” Senga explained. “They are all in the cells.”

“Or dead.” Kishi added in a low voice.

Kentaro knew that he had to say something, he had to tell them, but not here with everyone. He had to know who he could trust. What if they wouldn't believe him? That’s why he wanted to ask his brother to help him, but he had to find out what to do on his own this time.

“Kentaro.”

“Yes?” Kentaro needed a moment to realize that Wataru had said something.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, sure.”

“Okay so as I said you are going to the western border with Ryosuke.” He turned away again talking to Kame without waiting for his repsonse. It was now or never, he knew that. He wanted to talk to Wataru before he would go on patrol, but then there was a hand on his shoulder. When he turned around he faced Ryosuke who was smiling at him.

“Let’s go. As sooner we go as sooner we can come back,” He said smiling, clapping on his shoulder once before turning to the door.

“Are you really alright?”

It was Ueda who had approached him, looking at him with a kind of worried look. Kentaro didn't know what to think of that, because after all they were strangers and he wasn't sure if he should be impressed that he had figured out that something was bothering him or worried about it.

“Yes everything’s fine”, he lied just to be sure.

“Okay, then have a safe trip.” Ueda added clapping him on the shoulder as well.

For a moment Kentaro didn’t move staring after him, something felt weird, but he couldn’t explain what exactly it was.

“Kentaro are you coming?” Ryosuke shouted, already on his way to the door.

“Yes, on my way.” Kentaro ran after him, once again looking at Ueda who was looking at him with a weird expression.

***

“You seem really exhausted, you sure you are okay?” Ryosuke asked for the dozens time when they were almost completely around the border about to turn back to the village.

“Mh,” Kentaro just nodded not even looking at him. He was tense, too tense to have a normal conversation. He just hopped the patrol would end without problems and he could finally talk to his brother later.

“We are here,” Ryosuke announced when they stopped at the cliffs where the northern border started.

“Okay, let’s return then,” Kentaro said, already turning around wanting to leave for the village as soon as possible. He already moved towards the forest when he stopped or more was stopped.

“What’s going on?” He asked himself trying to make another step, but it wouldn’t work.  And then he heard Ryosuke laughter behind him.

“What’s wrong? Can’t move anymore?”

All his fears, he had tried to convince himself of that they weren't true, crushed down on him at once. He was right after all, he hadn’t imagined what he had seen in the battle.

“So what do you know?” Ryosuke asked when he walked around him before stopping right in front of him, bowing forward a little bit with a creepy smile.

“What do you mean?” Kentaro tried to play cool, but it wouldn’t work with his voice already shaking.

“About me!”

“I really don’t know what you are talking about.”

The next thing to happen was something worse than Kentaro had ever expected. Ryosuke lifted his hand and the next moment his body was filled with pain, so much pain that he fell to his knees.

“What are you doing? Ryosuke, please stop it!” Kentaro begged him crossing his arms around his body not sure where to put the pressure, because the pain was everywhere.

“Tell me what you know then I will stop!”

“I know nothing.”

Another huge wave of pain went through his body and he screamed out, almost unable to even keep concious.

“Are you still sure you know nothing? I can continue this the whole day!”

And another painful shot through his body, he was already lying on the ground by now, between screaming and crying.

When Ryosuke raised his hand again Kentaro finally gave up.

“You killed him!” He shouted at him before he moved his hand.

“So I guess we can have a talk now,” Ryosuke said smiling and sat down next to Kentaro who was breathing hard now, trying to get a grip.

“Then let’s hear what you have to say.”

“You killed Myuto.”

“And?”

Kentaro thought about not telling him everything he knew, but that would mean he would torture him even more.

“The moment you rushed after the realitist you weren’t about to kill him, but give him the location of Keiichiro, weren’t you?”

Ryosuke just gave him a lopsided smile, but didn’t answer.

Myuto saw you so you killed him, that’s why he had no wounds from the outside, because you killed him somehow with your powers from the inside.”

“At least you know how by know, I guess.”

Now he was even mocking him. Knowing how strong Ryosuke’s powers were Kentaro knew that it didn’t matter if he would tell him or not, because he was done for anyways.

“You ran towards the forest to hide until we had found Myuto. Then you came back telling us you followed the realitist who was on his way to kill Keiichiro.”

Ryosuke was clapping his hands slowly. “Amazing, but would you tell me one secret? How did you found that out?” He asked curious.

“In the middle of our fight I thought I saw the realitist who you were chasing rushing around the village towards the direction of the older ones, but first I thought I had mistaken him for another one the others were fighting against. But when I heard that Keiichiro was killed by an arrow I knew that I was right. The only realitist with bow and arrow was the one you were chasing.”

“Mhh you are really good Kentaro, but then let me ask you one last question: Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Kentaro stayed silent for a moment, not sure what to answer.

“Wait, let me guess. You were afraid they wouldn’t believe you, because I’m a member of the village longer than you are! Oh Kentaro...” Ryosuke let out mocking before he got up again and walked away a few steps. “Thanks to your shyness and over-carefulness my plan is still working and you just sealed your fate.”

He was right and Kentaro knew that. The only person he wanted to tell was his brother. Unfortunately he was also the person who was not really in talking mood at the moment.

Kentaro crawled up into a sitting position again when the pain got at least a little bit less.

“Can I ask you something?” He asked carefully, making Ryosuke raise an eyebrow at him again.

“What would that be?”

“The reason why you betrayed your own people.”

Ryosuke started laughing almost hysterically at Kentaro’s statement.

“My people? It wasn’t my choice to be a phenomenist, you know! So it wasn’t my choice to be part of their lives. But I decided that I would be a part of the phenomenists just to learn enough about them to destroy them!”

“But you are a phenomenist yourself, the realitists are just using you. They will kill you as well in the end.”

“I hope so, that’s at least what they promised!”

Kentaro stared at him with wide eyes. So instead of just ending his life, because he couldn’t deal with what he had become he had decided to take as many phenomenists with him as possible on his downfall. Getting his own death as a reward for his work.

“Now that I got all my answers and you got yours you will understand why I have to continue!” He stepped forward again stretching his hand out to Kentaro’s cheek. “Don’t worry this time the pain won’t be as bad as before. It will be over soon.”

Kentaro closed his eyes knowing that he could do nothing, his powers were blocked, his body numb and so he gave up, hoping that his brother and the others would find out about Ryosuke fast enough to save the village and themselves.

 


	21. rescue

It seemed like dying was really as painless as Ryosuke had promised him, because he felt nothing at all. But when he opened his eyes again Ryosuke was still in front of him looking completely confused.

“What the hell?”

Ryosuke took away his hand and then from one moment to the other Ryosuke was the one falling to his knees screaming out, but it wasn’t Kentaro’s doing or at least he didn’t think so, because if he did something he wouldn’t have known what and how.

“The village really changed a lot.”

Kentaro swirled around looking at a really satisfied looking Ueda who had approached them unnoticed.

“What did you do?” Ryosuke shouted at him trying to get up again, but with a small movement of his hand Ueda made him fall back on his knees.

“You shut up for now! It’s your own fault for not noticing that I followed you. Sometimes it’s better to concentrate on more than one thing,” He scolded him moving towards Kentaro who was still sitting on the ground not really understanding what was going on.

“Are you alright?” He asked him crouching down in front of him, but Kentaro couldn’t answer, he was still in shock about what had just happened.

When Ueda stretched out his hand to touch his cheek he flinched back automatically afraid he would try to hurt him the same way as Ryosuke did before, but Ueda just smiled at him.

“Don’t worry I won’t hurt you.”

He couldn’t explain why, but somehow he believed him and instead of touching his cheek he took his hand this time putting it in between his palms, squeezing it lightly and he could feel how his healing power got activated. It felt like warm water was flowing inside of him and his pain and somehow even his fear was about to resolve.

“Thank you,” He whispered when Ueda let go of his hand again and the latter gave him a warm smile.

“You are welcome. I knew that something was wrong the moment I saw you in the city hall earlier. So I took preparations just in case something would happen.”

“Preparations?”

Kentaro had the feeling that he got way too many information at once, his head was about to explode. He never thought that there would be so much more about the phenomenistic powers.

“Earlier in the city hall I saw how Ryosuke put his hand on your shoulder and how you tensed, so just in case I wanted to check if he transferred his powers on you and he did. I transferred mine on you as well, I think you must have noticed!?”

Now that he said it yes he had noticed, but there was something weird about it.

“I know that look, let me explain. If one person transfers his powers and especially when that person is in good control of his powers you won’t notice so you didn’t notice Ryosuke’s transfer. But I had to make sure that I transferred more than him so you noticed that.”

Kentaro just nodded trying to let everything sink in.

“So Ryosuke was able to stop your movements and hurt you, but to kill you he had to transfer more power and that was the moment my powers interfered. I transferred them from you to him and you can see the result right over there.” He pointed at Ryosuke who was sitting on the ground growling. If he would be able to he would definitely rip both of them apart.

“It always depends on who has the stronger powers and at the moment-“ He stopped talking walking over to Ryosuke grabbing him by the collar to make him stand up. “I could kill you right here, right now, because you already used so much power on Kentaro,” He said smiling and grabbed his chin with his free hand.

“Do it, you would do me a huge favor!” Ryosuke said with an evil sneer.

”Stop it!” Kentaro jumped up seeing that Ueda would definitely like to do him this favor, but he wouldn’t let him. “Wataru doesn’t want us to kill someone.”

“He is still the same,” Ueda said shaking his head smiling at Kentaro. “Then let’s take him back to the village, but I won’t take any risk,” He added before putting his hand on Ryosuke’s chest. The latter screamed out before collapsing into Ueda’s arms. Kentaro looked at him with wide eyes when Ueda threw Ryosuke over his shoulder.

“Don’t worry he is just unconscious and he won’t wake up again before I let him.”

For a while they walked side by side in silence before Ueda ruffled through Kentaro’s hair, making him look up at him.

“There is still something bothering you, I can see that! What is it?”

“Ehm, nothing special.” Kentaro was amazed how easy it was for Ueda to read him, not even Nikaido could do that all the time.

“Let me guess it’s about your brother.”

“What? How did you-?” Now he was not just amazed, but worried that he couldn’t just transfer his powers, but was maybe able to read his mind as well.

“Oh come on, when we came back we first met with your brother and Fujigaya. They are more than obvious about their feelings.”

“Oh yeah they are and they are as complicated as obvious as well,” Kentaro said with a sigh and when he looked up at Ueda’s amused face again, both of them started laughing.

“Let me guess you are worried about them, right? Because of Fujigaya’s new powers!”

Kentaro just nodded before he let out another sigh.

“I wanted to tell my brother about my guess that Ryosuke was the traitor earlier, but he was so out of it because of Fujigaya that I felt like he wouldn’t care for me anymore. It’s not that I’m blaming him, I’m not really angry either, but it worries me. When we came here from the city and Fujigaya and my brother got close I thought everything would be okay from then on and now again everything seems to crumble, just because of this stupid new crytalile weapon.”

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Ueda comforted him, but of course Kentaro wasn’t convinced so easily.

“You met the others just for a short moment earlier, right?”

“Right.”

“Did something regarding Fujigaya catch your eye?”

Kentaro had to think about their discussion earlier and when he remembered the moment his brother had left the city hall he knew what he meant.

“Kame,” He said more like a question than a statement.

“Exactly,” Ueda replied smiling.

“But how can he help them?” He asked confused. “Fujigaya seemed to feel safe at his side, but to be honest that doesn’t seem to make it any easier for my brother.”

“And that’s exactly how we will rescue their relationship!”

Kentaro stopped for a moment, looking at him confused because he didn’t get his plan, how could jealousy rescue their relationship?

“Trust me! Give Kame a few days and everything will be fine again, even though it won’t seem like it in the beginning. But be prepared! Your brother and Fujigaya might freak out in the coming days a lot!” His lopsided smile made a shiver run over Kentaro’s back, he wasn’t sure if he liked their ‘plan’ but for now he would just wait up and see.

***

The moment they arrived at the border to the forest he saw Nikaido rushing over to them followed by Taiga and Wataru.

“We already heard from Junno and the others what was going on, is everything alright?” Wataru asked. But before Kentaro could answer his brother pulled him in a tight hug, a little bit too tight.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry Kentaro!” He could feel how Nikaido was shivering against him while he tried to calm him down. “I put you in so much danger just because I didn’t listen to you earlier even though I knew about the possibility that there was a traitor in our middle.”

“Nii-san please calm down!” He nodded at the others so that they already went down to the village, explaining what had happened.

Kentaro could see Fujigaya next to Kame. It seemed to him like he would like to rush up there and tell Nikaido the same as he did, that it wasn’t his fault, because this was normally what he would do at a time like this. But the fear about hurting someone with his new powers was still too big to leave Kame’s side.

“You are really not hurt? What happened?”

“No, everything is okay.” Kentaro skipped the part of Ryosuke torturing him and trying to kill him as he explained the situation to his brother, knowing that he would freak out and kill Ryosuke ignoring Wataru’s orders if he would know the whole story.

***

“You are really sure that it is okay to wake him up? He can’t harm anyone?” Wataru asked worried when they had tied Ryosuke up on a massive wooden chair in the city hall.

“Don’t worry I’m in control of his powers as long as no one attacks me. If I’m getting weaker than him I can’t control him anymore. But he has to touch someone to transfer his powers so if something happens just stay away from him!”

“Just one last question!” Nikaido interfered before Ueda woke him up. “Do you know what happens when he transfers his powers to humans?”

Ueda blinked looking at him in cofusion before turning around to the other three like he wouldn’t know what he meant.

“You must now we can transfer our powers to humans as well.” It was Fujigaya who finally spoke up and explained what Nikaido meant.

“What? How is that possible?” Junno asked confused and even Kame looked at him doubting.

Fujigaya looked at Nikaido briefly before looking at Kame again. Everyone was waiting for him to explain it, but somehow he was unsure of what to say.

Nikaido went from zero to one hundred eighty seeing his shy behavior, was he now ashamed of their relationship? He was about to explode when Ueda hit Kentaro lightly on the shoulder and signaled him to calm his brother down.

Ueda had promised that Kame would take care of their relationship problems so he had to stop his brother from making it even worse.

Luckily Wataru interfered the moment when Kentaro grabbed his brother’s arm signaling him to stay calm and to his relief he really did. He was still tense, but he stayed in the background listening to Wataru’s explanation.

“Sure you wouldn’t know about it, at first there were just a few humans here in the village, but the number increased over the time and then Nikaido and Kentaro arrived.”

Everyone looked at them and this time it was Nikaido who searched for Fujigaya’s eyes, but looked away again when they briefly met not wanting to give Fujigaya the chance to be the one looking away guilty again.

Wataru tried to explain everything as fast and easy as possible making the eyes of the four go wider with every sentence.

“Wow that’s amazing!” Kame admitted, ruffling through his own hair, making an embarrassed noise. “And it is even really logical, why didn’t we ever think about that possibility?”

“But the part with the power stealing is the most interesting one!” Ueda admitted looking from Nikaido to Fujigaya.

“The question now is if it is really possible for Ryosuke or more like for us Phenomenists to transfer our powers on humans and use them!” Nakamaru said making Nikaido and Fujigaya finally relax again when the attention was driven away from them.

“At least it’s possible to kill them. Ryosuke killed Myuto with his powers,” Kentaro reminded them.

“Okay so no contact to him at all. Neither for the phenomenists nor for the humans!” Wataru warned everyone. “It’s dangerous enough if he uses his normal powers against us.”

“So we should test if he could also control their movements and actions before waking him up.” Ueda started walking around between them. “Any volunteers?”

“With this creepy smile on your face no one would ever volunteer for this!” Nakamaru scolded him before hitting him on the back of his head making everyone chuckle a little bit.

“I do it!” Fujigaya was the one tensing the most as Taiga spoke up.

“It will be fine!” Kame told him taking his hand. Nikaido was really about to freak the moment Fujigaya entwined his fingers with Kame’s. He tried to make Fujigaya snap out of his over protectiveness of his brother so often without any positive result and now this guy just had to take his hand and it was fine?

“Nii-san, don’t make a scene now!” Kentaro scolded him when his brother growled angrily next to him.

“Okay then let’s try this,” Ueda said kind of over-motivated.

He stretched out his hand towards Taiga so that he could put his in Ueda’s. He held on it for a moment before letting go of him again.

“Do you feel anything?”

“I feel that I got some of your powers,” Taiga explained nodding.

“Try to use them!”

Taiga concentrated on the stone floor making it crack a little bit.

“Wow so it is really possible for humans to use our powers as well,” Junno realized impressed.

“I told you,” Wataru said smiling. “And we also train them in using their powers. Nikaido and Aran are the best until now.”

Kishi blushed when Aran put his hand around his neck, smiling at everyone proud.

“Okay now the difficult part.” Ueda concentrated on Taiga again. “Ready?”

“Sure, try it!”

Ueda stretched out his hand closing his eyes for a moment.

“Try to walk!”

But the moment Taiga wanted to move he realized that he couldn’t. He looked at his feet with wide eyes.

“I can’t.”

“Okay then this time try to stand still.”

Taiga was just standing there obviously doing nothing when he almost squealed when he walked over to the next chair to sit down. It looked kind of funny seeing that his body wasn’t doing what his mind was telling him.

“Okay that was creepy,” Taiga said in a scared voice looking at his legs in shock.

“It really works,” Kame said astonished. “That’s fantastic news! It will be so helpful when there is another fight with the Realitists.”

“And it seems even easier with humans, because they don’t have powers on their own with which they could fight the possession,” Nakamaru added.

“Okay so now we have all the information we need to take precaution to wake him up.” Wataru nodded at Ueda.

Everyone turned around to Ryosuke when Ueda stepped forward putting his hand on his cheek and he opened his eyes with a dangerous glare.

 


	22. Interrogation with consequences

 

„I will make you pay for this!” Ryosuke hissed at Ueda trying to free himself from the massive wooden chair the moment he opened his eyes.

“I would like to see you try,” Ueda replied with a lopsided smile before stepping back.

“Taisuke do you think you can form a cell around him?” Kame asked him with a comforting nod when he looked at him panicked.

“I’ll try!”

Again Nikaido had to calm down when Fujigaya was so focused on Kame and so easily influenced by him.

Fujigaya stretched out his hands and when a glittering rainbow colored cell formed itself out of nowhere around Ryosuke, the boy held his breath in astonishment.

“What the hell?” Ryosuke asked shocked.

“We thought it would be better to not tell anyone about this before he could control it,” Wataru explained. “Taiga, Nikaido, Kentaro and I knew, but on Fujigaya’s own wish we told the rest of you that he was still resting until now.”

“That can’t be true!” Ryosuke said annoyed and flicked his tongue. “We should have fired this stupid thing at me instead, if we would have known that it will have the opposite effect.”

“Don’t be such a sore loser!” Ueda mocked him.

“Ryosuke?” It was Hokuto who finally dared to say something while most of the others stayed silent. “Did you really betray us? Did you kill Myuto?”

Hokuto had come into the village badly hurt and afraid of everyone who was not a Phenomenist. Ryosuke was the one who helped him to rebuild his trust in everyone.

His eyes showed that his whole world was about to shatter, if the person who helped him back on his feet again would betray him now.

“You are betraying yourself!” Ryosuke answered straight on the point, letting his look wander over all of them. “Do you really think you can live on like that? We are monsters and the world will find out about us sooner or later. We should do them and us a favor and get rid of every single one of us ourselves!”

Silence. No one dared to speak, not even Ueda who was normally straight forward as well. As the first tear ran down Hokuto’s cheek Kishi and Alan took him by the shoulders and brought him out the building knowing that this would be too much for him. When they opened the main door everyone could hear the heavy rain which had already started.

“Ryosuke you were living with us for so long. You saw that it’s possible to live like this. We can continue like this and we even  got more control over our powers,” Wataru tried to explain, but instead of listening Ryosuke put his head back and started laughing.

“You call this living? Living isolated in the mountains waiting for the rest of the world to kill us?”

“Ryosuke, we-“

“Shut up!” He yelled at Wataru as he tried to convince him again.

“Okay enough of the kind words, back to business,” Nakamaru interfered stopping right in front of the cell. “You mind telling us what’s going on in the city?”

Again Ryosuke started laughing.

“As if I would do that.”

“You have nothing to lose, do you? Or do you think you will ever get out of this thing again?”

“I might. Even though I never expected the crytalile bullet to have such an effect I don’t think it will last forever. If it’s the same as with the normal powers I just have to get rid of Fujigaya!”

“And how do you plan on doing that, if I may ask?” Ueda asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh trust me, I’ll find a way.”

“Or more like the one you let escape will find a way?” Nakamaru interrupted them again after looking over to Ueda who raised his hands in apology, knowing that if Nakamaru tried to get information from someone he shouldn’t interfere.

“Maybe?”

Nakamaru ruffled through his hair, knowing that Ryosuke wouldn’t tell him anything voluntarily.

“Ueda, would you mind?” He made space for Ueda to step forward to the cell. “I hoped we could solve this peacefully, but you leave us no other choice.”

Kentaro looked at them confused as did the others, but when Ueda looked over to him for a second, kind of apologizing he knew what was going on.

“No, please don’t do that to him!” He rushed forward, grabbing Ueda’s sleeve when he wanted to pull out his knife to slice the cell open.

“Kentaro, let them handle it.”

Nikaido wanted to drag him back, but Nakamaru stopped him signaling him to wait.

“I’m sorry, Kentaro. I know that you don’t want him to suffer, but we need information.” Ueda put his hand on Kentaro’s, carefully making him let go of his sleeve.

“It might be better if you go outside if this is too much for you!”

But Kentaro shook his head still remaining at his spot. He flinched when Ueda put his hand on his cheek the next moment, making him look up at him.

“I’ll try to end this as soon and painless as possible, I promise.”

“Liar.” It was of course Ryosuke who spoke up. “Kentaro, see it as a payback. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t want to do it yourself, after what I did to you.”

Ryosuke's satisfied grin made him tense, but still this wasn’t his way of doing things.

“Kentaro, what is he talking about?”

Kentaro realized too late that of course Nikaido heard their conversation and he didn’t want him to know, but it was already too late.

“Oh he didn’t tell you?” Ryosuke asked with a mischievous laugh. “Strong Kentaro doesn’t want his brother to worry about him, how cute.”

“Would you shut up?” Ueda yelled at him, but of course he wouldn’t.

“What? It’s just fair that he also get to know what you are going to do to me!”

He turned his face to Nikaido again with a mocking smile. “You must know your cute little brother had to suffer at lot earlier because of me.”

“No, Nii-san! Don’t listen to him!” Kentaro blocked his brother’s way as he tried to walk over to the cell, obviously ready to slice it open and get rid of Ryosuke if he would say one more word.

Even Fujigaya tensed, digging his fingers into Kame’s sleeve, but he was remaining at Kame’s side not knowing how his powers would react if he would get in a fight between them now.

“Okay that’s enough, everyone out!” It was Wataru who spoke up to everyone’s surprise. “I’m not kidding, don’t look at me like this! Except for Ueda, Nakamaru and me everyone will leave this building.”

“But-“ Nikaido wanted to argue, but Wataru wouldn’t let anyone speak up against him.

“Out! Now!” He shouted, pointing at the door and when Senga took Nikaido’s arm he finally gave in and turned around once more to glare at Ryosuke who was of course more than amused by this situation. They all walked outside without any complains, even though they didn't feel safe with the thought of letting them handle Ryosuke on their own.

“Kentaro, don't you dare to run away now,” Nikaido growled, taking his arm as he tried to hide behind Senga the moment they had left the building.

“Ow, Nii-san, let go!” He tried to rip his arm out of his grip, tears glittering in his eyes, but Nikaido wouldn't let him go and pulled him into a hug instead. To the boy's obvious surprise.

“Ah, okay now I get this.” Junno said finally with a snip of his fingers, getting a hit on the back of his head from Kame. “What was that for?”

“Shut up and let’s leave them alone for a moment.” 

Everyone nodded and tried to get out of the continuing rain.

“Taisuke, are you coming?” Kame asked when Fujigaya didn’t move.

“Yeah, sure.” He looked at the two brothers once more, he would have loved to give them a hug as well, but he just couldn’t, at least not yet.

“You are not angry?” Kentaro asked surprised and still sobbing when his brother kept his arms around him, stroking over his hair carefully.

“Why should I be angry? I’m worried! Kentaro when you keep secrets from me how can I protect you?”

For just the blink of an eye Kentaro felt angry. It wasn’t like he hadn't tried to tell him about his suspicions about Ryosuke, but back then he didn’t want to listen. But then again he knew that it wasn’t his brother’s fault.

“I’m sorry,” He said instead, grabbing the back of his brother’s jacket when they heard Ryosuke screaming out of a sudden.

Kentaro put his head against his brother’s chest and Nikaido put his arms lightly around his head, trying to get him isolated of as much noise as possible. But Ryosuke’s screams got louder and more desperate with every minute. Kentaro was shaking against him, when the screams finally stopped for a moment.

“Let’s get you home for now, so you can rest."

Kentaro nodded, not wanting to enter the city hall again. Of course he understood the reason why they had to make him answer their questions, but he knew how cruel this kind of power use on people was and Ryosuke wasn’t the type to just give in. But then he froze, making his brother almost bump into him.

“What’s wrong...Kentaro!”

Kentaro swirled around to the city hall the moment Ryosuke screamed out again. He had no time to explain, every second counted as he realized how dangerous their doing was.

Ueda had explained everything to him earlier on their way back. Ryosuke was able to torture him so much, because of his great powers. But he had to transfer more power on him the moment he tried to kill him. But even though Kentaro’s body was tortured his powers weren’t. He remembered clearly that his powers were still completely charged, because they were blocked through Ryosuke’s powers. The DNA is getting destroyed through the torturing, but when the healing powers of this persons is strong enough it won’t take much time for the body to recover.

Now that he realized how long Ryosuke tried to keep up his own torturing he understood why. The more Ueda had to use his powers, the weaker he would get. But Kentaro doubted that they ever tried this torturing method with another Phenomenist, so they didn’t know that the powers of the tortured one would not be weakened at all.

“Ueda! You have to get out of the cell!” Kentaro shouted, almost breaking through the doors of the city hall and making everyone turn around to him. He had drawn his own knife, rushing over to the cell ready to slice it open and get Ueda out, when his look fell on Ryosuke who gave him a triumphing smile.

“Stop it!” Kentaro shouted, but wasn’t fast enough. Before anyone could even realize what was going on it was already too late.

Wataru was about to draw his sword to slice the cell open even though he still didn't understand Kentaro's panic, but Ryosuke had already started his attack. Ueda realized too late that Ryosuke had overpowered him through the torturing. Ueda had almost used all the transferred powers and before he could try to transfer more, realizing that Kentaro's panic meant that Ryosuke's powers would be still charged, Ryosuke ripped the wooden chair into pieces, making Ueda crush into the cell wall with his back.

“Too late!” Ryosuke said, facing Ueda with a satisfied smile, knowing that the older one wouldn’t have enough power left to defend himself.

“UEDA!” Everyone shouted out for him the moment Ryosuke shot the ripped parts of the chair at Ueda who tried to avoid most of them, but the space in the cell was just too small to dodge them all. He screamed out when one of the sharp pieces pierced through his tight and forced him on his knees.

“Don’t!” Kame, who had rushed back with most of the others as they heard the noise, shouted over to Wataru who was ready to slice the cell open to get Ueda out.

“We can’t leave him in there.”

“But we can’t let Ryosuke out either,” Kame added.

Kentaro looked around between them. He could see the worry in their eyes about their teammate, but they also knew how dangerous it would be to just let Ryosuke out the cell.

“Taisuke, can’t you split the cell between them?” Kame asked.

Ryosuke kept his distance to Ueda knowing that even though his powers were weakened it would be dangerous to get into his reach, so there was the possibility to split them apart if Fujigaya could do it.

“Don’t even think about it!”

Kame turned around to Ryosuke again as he spoke up, holding a sharp part of the wooden chair in his hand. “The moment Fujigaya moves I make sure this hits perfectly in Ueda's chest! So Wataru now you’re allowed to open the cell for me.”

But Wataru didn’t move and stared from one to the other instead, but everyone looked as unsure about what to do as him.

“It’s not like I was asking for it, you know? It was more like an order.”

Ryosuke’s voice showed anger and Kentaro wasn’t the only one to fear for Ueda’s life by now. But even though they wanted to help him they couldn’t and Kentaro understood why even though he didn’t want to accept it.

“Open it!” Ryosuke almost screamed at Wataru before everyone turned to Ueda as he started chuckling.

“You are really something, you know that?”

“I’m taking that as a compliment.”

“Take it as whatever you like, but it won’t help you anyways.” Ueda got back up, grabbing the wood that was stuck in his tight and when he ripped it out Kentaro turned away his head out of reflex.

“You know already that this is a dead-end, don’t you?” Ueda asked Ryosuke who flicked his tongue on his statement.

“What does he mean?” Kentaro asked confused, looking at Junno who had entered with Kame and the others earlier.

“It’s simple. We don’t want him to kill Ueda, but if he really kills him he has no leverage anymore.”

Now Kentaro understood, so as long as Ryosuke’s priority was about getting out the cell, Ueda’s life was not in danger.

Kame looked at Fujigaya again, but Ryosuke was faster, realizing that they planned to put another wall between them, knowing that he wouldn’t kill him.

“Okay then I go with plan B!” Ryosuke said in a calm voice, shrugging his shoulders.

For a moment everyone thought he was bluffing until he stretched out his hand towards everyone who was standing next to the entrance and then Kentaro broke down screaming.

“KENTARO!” Nikaido was the first one at his side, trying to find out what was going on. Kentaro clenched his fists into his brother’s sleeves when another wave of pain ran through his body and he screamed out again.

“You want to let me out now?” Ryosuke asked triumphing while everyone’s face showed sheer panic and confusion about what was going on.

 


	23. a last favor

 

 

Everyone stared from one to the other, but no one could really explain what was happening, until Ueda finally understood.

“You fooled me!” He hissed at him making everyone turn towards them as Ryosuke finally stopped torturing Kentaro.

“Finally got it, bright spark?”

Ueda growled at him, but he knew better than to attack him.

“Ueda, what’s he talking about?” Nakamaru asked.

“Before at the border, when he tried to kill Kentaro he had to transfer more power to do it, but I had blocked his transfer possessing him with my powers. That’s at least how he wanted it to look like.”

“So that means-“Nakamaru started looking at Kentaro who was still on the ground, held in his brother’s arms.

“Right. Ryosuke had transferred so much power on him already that he could have killed him without problems.”

“But why did he try to transfer even more power on him then?” Kame asked confused. It didn’t make sense to him.

Ueda didn’t answer his question. It wasn’t like he didn’t know the answer or at least he guessed, but this was already so sick that he didn’t want to explain it.

“What’s wrong? You explained everything so well until now, tell them the rest. I really would like to hear it!” Ryosuke asked with a lopsided smile. “I can show you instead of telling you though!”

He lifted his hand and Kentaro screamed out again.

“STOP IT!” Nikaido screamed at him, but Ryosuke just laughed.

“This is why I touched him again! Pleasure! The pleasure of feeling his pain. I wanted to feel how he dies!”

While Ryosuke started laughing almost hysterical before making Kentaro crumble on the ground out of pain everyone else was in so much rage that the city hall got cracks in its pillars and the earth started shaking.

“Get a grip everyone!” Wataru warned Fujigaya and the other phenomenists knowing that if they wanted to they could rip the whole building apart. He was more than happy about the fact that Hokuto was at Miyata’s place with Kishi, Aran and Kento, so at least the most vulnerable phenomenists weren’t around.

“Fujigaya let me out and I will stop!” Ryosuke finally addressed Fujigaya knowing that the others would still refuse to let him out. Fujigaya was already completely pale staring at Kentaro in shock.

“LET ME OUT!” Ryosuke screamed at him using so much force on Kentaro that he was about to lose consciousness which would even have been better, seeing how he suffered through the pain.

Fujigaya turned around to the cell looking at Ryosuke first then at Wataru.

“Kame, get him out of here, now!” Wataru shouted, knowing this expression of him. He wouldn’t be able to keep the cell intact if this carried on. He wasn’t mentally stable enough for such a situation.

“No, wait! Please Kame!” Fujigaya struggled when Kame took his arm and dragged him towards the door, but then his look fell on Nikaido the moment they passed him he saw the tears in his eyes, his fear of losing his little brother.

“Taisuke, no!” Taiga, who stood next to Wataru at the cell, realized first that the cell was about to crumble as his brother couldn’t take the suffering around him anymore.

But it was already too late and with a clashing sound the walls crumbled to the ground.

“Thank you!” Ryosuke said smiling and then the chaos started. Ueda was the first to react he tried to shoot back one of the wooden planks at Ryosuke now that his powers came back slowly, but Ryosuke was faster and before Ueda could even lift a plank he felt how the wood Ryosuke had held in his hand sank into his upper body.

“UEDA!” Nakamaru rushed forward to catch him as he fell backwards. Wataru tried to attack him with his sword, but unfortunately Ryosuke was not just an awesome phenomenist, but also a good fighter. He kicked the sword out of Wataru’s hand before he made him fly to the room through a wind gust so that Senga had to catch him or he would have crush into the next wall.

Kame and Junno were about to attack next, knowing that they outnumbered and overpowered him, but they froze when Ryosuke attacked Taiga the moment he realized that they were about to stop him.

Taiga wasn’t fast enough to get out his grip and before he knew it Ryosuke had twisted the knife out of his hand and took him hostage putting the knife to his throat.

“Sure you still want to attack?” Ryosuke asked chuckling. “Hey don’t you all look at me like this! At least Kentaro is fine again, that’s what you wanted, right?”

Kentaro had finally lost consciousness to his own good and Ryosuke’s transferred powers were finally used up. But Ryosuke had proved more than once that he was unpredictable.

“Make way or you will have one human less in the village.”

Ryosuke pulled Taiga so close to him that there was no way to get them apart safe. Not even Fujigaya could build his cell around him fast enough so that he could safe his brother. But out of reflex he made a step forward, but when Taiga screamed out he froze.

And in shock Fujigaya realized that it hadn't been the knife that had made him scream out.

“No you didn’t-“He started with a shaking voice.

“Oh yes I did. I transferred my powers on him as well.” Kento was holding on to Taiga’s arm with his free hand. “And if you won’t move out of my way I can decide for myself in which way I’m going to kill him.”

Nikaido lifted Kentaro up immediately and stepped away from the door and the others followed reluctantly.

“Oh don’t be such sore losers. You tried your best and you almost got me!” Ryosuke teased them while moving carefully out between them holding the knife so close to Taiga’s throat that Taiga could feel how the first drop of blood slid down his neck. He moved backwards carefully observing everyone as they followed him out the building.

“You stay here!” Wataru ordered Fujigaya who looked already like a walking ghost realizing slowly what he had caused with his actions.

“Taisuke, it will be alright!” Kame took his arm to drag him back into the city hall. “Let’s heal Kentaro and Ueda. Wataru and the others can handle this, your brother will be fine!”

Fujigaya knew that if he wasn't fine he couldn’t do anything at the moment to change that. So he let himself get dragged back into the city hall.

“What’s going on? What happened?” Miyata came running out of a sudden, stopping next to Wataru.

“Long story, please tell me that the others are still at your house!”

“Yes I told them to wait there until I come back.”

“Would you go take a look at them? Especially Hokuto he doesn’t have to be confronted with Ryosuke like this.”

Miyata nodded at him before he turned around, running back to his house.

“Don’t worry I won’t kill him, if you do as I say.” Ryosuke had noticed how tense the situation was and even though he enjoyed torturing people mentally he had to make sure that no one would follow him. “I will let him go as soon as I’m out of your reach. But if anyone follows me I make sure he will never come back.”

Ryosuke dragged Taiga with him towards the southern border into the forest and even though everyone wanted to act they knew they couldn’t.

***

“You’re so quiet. Did you bite your tongue?” Ryosuke asked when they had reached the forest and disappeared out of everyone’s sight. “Normally you are so talkative around me!”

“Normally you are my friend or at least you were,” Taiga said in a low voice when he let go of him, knowing that he wouldn't try to attack him or run away as long as he was possessing him with his powers.

“Oh come on, you are a human, you should understand me.”

“You are a phenomenist you should understand yourself even better! What you are doing is wrong! You are one of the ones you want to kill.”

Taiga seemed to have said too much when Ryosuke grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the next tree, closing one hand with an immense force around his throat and Taiga choked.

“Don’t you dare to compare me with them! They are fine with being monsters, they even find it interesting, but for me it’s disgusting!”

As fast as he had lost his cool he got it back, letting go of Taiga who put a hand to his throat, coughing.

“This is far enough, leave!” Ryosuke turned around, waving at him to return back to the village out of a sudden.

“This doesn’t have to end like this!”

Taiga had noticed that Ryosuke’s expression has changed since they had left the village.

“What are you talking about? Leave already or I might change my mind about letting you go!” He said angry, but he was still not turning around.

“He’s talking about the possibility that you are not the person you try to be with all your might.” SOmeone was heard behind them.

Ryosuke was sure that no one had followed them he had focused on everyone’s powers all the time. But then he realized that he didn’t focus on one, the only one he trusted so much that even though he felt his presence he didn’t even realized it, because it seemed like a part of himself already.

Out of reflex Ryosuke dragged Taiga back to him as he realized that Hokuto had followed them.

“Don’t you dare to come any closer!” He warned him, but Hokuto’s expression was calm and caring.

“Do you really hate yourself so much?” He asked, making Ryosuke freeze for a moment.

“I hate all of you, you are monsters. We are monsters!”

“I don’t hate you!” Hokuto’s words seemed to get to Ryosuke like a huge avalanche.

“Shut up!” His hands started shaking and he loosened his grip on Taiga, his inner struggle visible to all of them.

“You were there for me all the time. You cared for me so much, without you I would have given up on myself. I won’t let the same happen to you.”

“Shut up, I don’t want to hear this!”

“No matter what you think of us or yourself, I’m going to help you! I won’t leave you alone, because you are my friend!”

“STOP IT!” Ryosuke pushed Taiga away, grasping his hair while shaking his head. “I don’t want to have anything to do with all of you. I have a mission! I have to go back, we have to eliminate all of you!”

Ryosuke was about to lose it when Hokuto approached him fast and pulled him into a tight hug. Taiga was standing behind Hokuto seeing how Ryosuke’s face changed, but the change seemed weird to him somehow.

“Because I’m your friend I won’t let you go back. Because I owe you this life I will use it to rescue you even though this is the only way.”

“Hokuto, you-“ Ryosuke pushed him back on his shoulders lightly and finally the reason for his expression came into Taiga’s view.

A knife was stuck directly in Ryosuke’s chest, making Taiga hold his breath out of shock.

“You could have killed me without a problem, you could have attacked me with your powers, transferred them on me, tortured me, because you were always stronger, but you didn’t.” Hokuto was still holding Ryosuke close to him even though he tried to get out of his grip. Then he pulled the knife out again, making Ryosuke gasp in pain before he broke down in Hokuto’s arms.

“Thank you for taking care of me, thank you for being there for me all this time even though you think of me as a monster.” A tear slipped over Hokuto’s eyelid dropping on Ryosuke’s cheek.

Ryosuke stretched out his hand to Hokuto’s cheek and smiled, a smile Taiga couldn’t understand, but it seemed like Hokuto did as he took Ryosuke's hand in his, squeezing it. He didn’t smile back, instead more tears were filling his eyes. But before the next tear was falling on Ryosuke’s face he had shut his eyes and his hand slipped out of Hokuto’s.

“Hokuto, are you alright?” Taiga asked after a while when Hokuto seemed to have gotten a grip again.

“Yes, I’m fine.” He turned his face towards him with a brief smile, but he could see the pain in his eyes.

“Let’s bring him back to the village, okay?” Taiga suggested, knowing that they couldn’t leave him out here. Hokuto just nodded as he lifted Ryosuke’s lifeless body up in his arms.

***

“What do you mean Hokuto is gone?” Senga asked worried as Miyata came back just a moment after he had left for his house.

The others didn’t pay attention for a moment, he was just out the room to take a look at Massu and Tegoshi, but instead he sneaked out.”

“Oh no that’s bad!” Wataru said worried turning towards the forest where Ryosuke had ran off to with Taiga earlier.

“You think we should follow them?” Senga asked, but Wataru shook his head.

“We would put Taiga in too much danger, we don’t know what Hokuto is up to, so we have to wait and see even though it’s hard.”

“Let’s take care of the wounded for now, we can do nothing than hope that Ryosuke will keep his promise and release Taiga unharmed.”

Wataru turned away from the forest, commanding everyone to help Kentaro and the others which were still inside.

“Junno, what’s wrong?” Wataru asked as he noticed that he was still staring at the forest.

“He is on his way! You know I’m pretty good in feeling presences of people on wide distances and Hokuto is about to catch up with them.”

Wataru knew what that meant, but he also knew that they could do nothing at the moment. He put his hand on Junno’s shoulder giving him a brief smile.

“For know we can just hope, because hope is the only thing we are not allowed to lose!”

 

 


	24. moving on

 

 

„How’s everyone?“ Wataru asked when he entered the city hall with Miyata at his side.

“Ueda will be fine, take a look at Kentaro,” Nakamaru explained when Miyata wanted to walk over to them. Luckily Nakamaru’s strong healing powers speeded up Ueda’s healing so much that he would be fine in the evening already.

“What about Kentaro, did he wake up already?” Senga asked walking over to them.

“No unfortunately he didn’t,” Kame explained. “I tried to heal him, but it’s different from a normal wound, because Ryosuke wasn't holding back at all with the use of his powers. A little bit longer and he would have definitely died.”

“I guess we can do nothing except making him rest for now and wait until he wakes up again.” Miyata said, clapping Nikaido on the shoulder. “Don’t worry he will be alright, he just needs time.”

Nikaido nodded, but said nothing. Instead he lifted him up turning to the door to bring him over to Miyata’s house. When he passed Kame to get to the door his look fell on Fujigaya who was hugging himself looking at the outside worried.

“Gaya?” On the sound of Nikaido’s voice Fujigaya flinched and when he kind of automatically made a step behind Kame, Nikaido felt a little bit hurt by his reaction. But even if he wanted to shout at him and tell him to cut this stupid behavior out he knew that it wasn’t the time, not now.

“Thank you!”

Fujigaya looked at him confused, but didn’t reply, so Nikaido just continued. “I don’t know if you did it accidently or not, but anyways thank you for saving my little brother.”

He paused again waiting for his reaction, but Fujigaya just nodded.

“Taiga will be alright! He will come back unharmed!” Nikaido tried to calm him down, but he knew that he wouldn’t be calm either if Kentaro had be the one kidnapped.

When Fujigaya was still not saying anything Nikaido left without another word, followed by Miyata, and Nakamaru and Junno which supported Ueda.

“We will check the border at the forest for now and report as soon as we see him,” Wataru told Fujigaya and Kame nodding towards Senga to follow him.

Fujigaya and Kame were the last ones left in the city hall and they were both not saying a word, remaining silent for a moment.

“Taisuke?” Kame wanted to make sure that he was okay when he didn’t move at all still looking to the ground.

“I can’t lose him!” When Fujigaya looked up at Kame, tears glittered in his eyes. “I can’t lose Taiga. I lost Mitsu already and now I’m at fault, when I lose Taiga as well.”

“No, Taisuke! This is not your fault!” Kame wanted to approach him, but Fujigaya made a step backwards shaking his head when the first tear ran down his cheek.

“It is! And I know everyone tries to comfort me and tell me that everything will be fine, but who are we kidding? We all know that Ryosuke has lost it! Who knows what will happen. And if something happens I can’t even be there to help him, I will be at fault if he dies. I killed my little brother!”

Before Fujigaya could turn away to talk himself even more into his guilt, Kame grabbed his arm forcefully and turned him around, slapping him so hard that a red mark remained on his cheek.

“Taisuke, stop this nonsense would you?” Kame yelled at him and as Fujigaya tried to rip himself out of his grip he pulled him into a tight hug.

“Let go!” Fujigaya tried to struggle. His sobs louder than his voice while his tears dropped on Kame’s shirt.

“No I won’t! I won’t let go until you understand that this is not your fault! This is war and at war there a things happening we can’t stop and we can’t change!”

For a moment Fujigaya stopped struggling. He could feel how Kame used his powers to stop him from destroying something. He didn't really mind and finally he gave in to Kame’s hug grabbing his shirt at the back, hiding his face at his chest.

After a while Kame had to support him so he could sit down after using too much power, because even though Kame stopped them from showing active damage to the outside they would still weaken him.

“Everything alright?” Kame asked after a moment. When Fujigaya just nodded, not looking at him he put his hand under his chin to make him look up.

Even though Fujigaya felt safe around Kame, knowing that he could help him suppress his new powers there was something dangerous about him. Something he had felt already when they were staying at the village when Mitsu was still alive.

But before Fujigaya could give his weird feelings a second thought Kame pulled back, looking to the door before forming a smile.

“What is it?” Fujigaya asked confused.

“Concentrate and you will now!” Kame replied with a nod to the door.

As Fujigaya tried to concentrate on his sensing skills he closed his eyes for a moment, feeling everyone in the village. When he sensed Hokuto he wanted to take his concentration away from him, because he still thought he would be in the village not knowing that he had left to follow Ryosuke and Taiga. But then he realized that there was another presence right next to him and his eyes flung open again as he jumped up.

“TAIGA!” When Fujigaya almost ran into the door as he dashed out he almost hit Junno with it who was standing at the outside obviously about to enter.

“Oh I guess I don’t have to tell you anymore,” He said smiling, looking after Fujigaya who was rushing over to the forest.

“No he already sensed them,” Kame said, crossing his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the doorframe, looking after Fujigaya with a smile.

“Kame I know this look!” Junno said in a kind of scolding tone.

“What look?” Kame asked with a smirk.

“Just let me tell you this, don’t confuse encouragement with other emotions.”

But Kame just lifted an eyebrow at him before clapping him on the shoulder, signaling him to follow him after Fujigaya.

“Taiga!” The moment Fujigaya had reached the border he already saw Taiga approaching the village through the forest!

“Taisuke!” Taiga started running towards him, hugging him the moment he had reached him.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes everything is fine!”

Fujigaya stroke over his little brother’s hair with a scanning look, trying to hold back his tears. This time not out of worry, but out of relief.

“Hey you didn’t destroy anything!”

“What do you mean?”

“I was gone and even though you are totally out of it at the moment there is nothing happening!”

 On Taiga’s words they both turned towards Kame who was approaching him with Junno.

“I guess I know who we own this to."

“Taiga!” Wataru, Aran and Kishi were the next ones who came running. “Are you alright?” Wataru asked worried. “Did you see Hokuto?”

“Yes and yes.” Taiga answered slowly before he pointed towards the forest and when everyone turned towards the direction he pointed at, they froze looking at Hokuto who carried the lifeless body of Ryosuke in his arms.

No one said something as he walked past them, his eyes kind of empty. Aran took Kishi’s hand as he saw how the grass around their feet was wilting.

Miyata and Kento were coming out the house the moment Hokuto had almost reached them. Kento put his hand in front of his mouth, trying to hide his shocked expression while Miyata rushed over to them.

Hokuto put him to the ground and everyone waited for Miyata’s reaction as he examined his body.

But the moment he shook his head everyone knew it was over. They knew they should be happy, because if Ryosuke had made it to the city the information about the effects of the crytalile weapon would have decided their fate.

It was for the better, but even though they knew, tears were flowing and even though Ryosuke hurt them and even tried to kill them they couldn’t deny that someone important was wiped out of their lives.

***

No one spoke about the happenings of that day again. For the night everyone was deep in their own thoughts.

Nikaido had fallen asleep next to Kentaro’s bed, while Ueda was already fine again putting a blanket over him before leaving Miyata’s house to meet up with Junno and Nakamaru in the city hall.

Fujigaya sat home with Kame, while Taiga had already been asleep for a few hours. While Miyata took care of Tegoshi and Massu, which were on a good way to finally wake up again, Senga and Wataru took a look at Kishi and Aran, who were still troubled through the death of Myuto and Keiichiro and now shaken up again about Ryosuke’s betrayal and sudden death.

Hokuto was sitting at the veranda of his house in which he had lived with Ryosuke. There were enough buildings in the village so everyone could live alone or they could just build new ones, but most of them preferred to not live on their own. So Myuto, Kishi and Aran had been living in the same house as had been Kento and Fuma.

Now he didn’t even want to enter anymore, knowing that it would feel so empty and huge without Ryosuke. The next day they would burn Ryosuke’s body and Hokuto felt like until then he wouldn’t be able to rest.

“Hey.” Kento said in a calm voice as he sat down next to Hokuto on the veranda, searching for the right words to say, if there were any words to say at all. He twisted his fingers for a moment not knowing how to start.

“How did you manage to move on?” Hokuto asked suddenly.

“Eh?”

“You lost Fuma and yet you seem fine.”

Hokuto looked up at him when he chuckled. Kento knew it wasn’t something to make fun of, but it seemed kind of funny to him how people saw him.

“You are right. I found a way to move on. But I won’t ever be fine again,” He explained in a calm voice, looking up to the sky.

“What do you mean?”

“When a person so important to you that you would give your own life for him gets ripped out of your life there is a huge empty space left behind in your soul. There is nothing in the world that could repair it so that it would be as before. But it’s your own choice if you leave it open, watching how it gets bigger and bigger or if you choose to fix it on your own, at least so much that it won’t rip you apart.”

A brief smile appeared on Hokuto’s face as he understood what Kento wanted to tell him.

“Thank you,” was all he said and for the rest of the night they remained silent, looking at the stars while fixing their holes slowly, but steady.

The day would come when the hole inside of them would be almost completed again and when that time was about to come it wouldn’t be much longer until they would meet the person again which could fill their empty space in their soul and would never let it crumble again.

 


	25. the proud pupil

 

„That’s so embarrassing!“

“Oh come on, it’s all right!”

“No it’s not! I disgraced you!”

“For how long do they want to continue like this?” Nikaido asked Wataru after a while. The moment he had entered the room after hearing that Tegoshi and Massu were finally awake Tegoshi was totally out of it when his old teachers were standing in front of him. He couldn’t deal with the fact that he and Massu were wounded most in their last fight. So Nakamaru tried to calm him down, unfortunately without success.

“If it’s about honor, Tegoshi can be a real drama queen so this might continue a while,” Wataru said chuckling.

Two days had passed since Ryosuke betrayed them and even though everyone was still kind of trying to avoid the topic everything went back to normal bit by bit. Now that Massu and Tegoshi were also fine they could try to at least pretend that everything was okay again until they had to decide how to proceed from now on regarding Fujigaya’s powers and the war with the Realitists.

“Wait, where is Kame?” Tegoshi asked finally after he had snapped out of it for a moment.

“He is outside training with Fujigaya! He helps him with his new po-” Junno couldn’t end his sentence when Tegoshi rushed out the room, gaining a chuckle from Ueda and rolling eyes from Nakamaru on that.

“Anyways, good to see that you’re back!” Massu said, smiling.

“Thank you! At least someone who cares for us!” Nakamaru replied in such a hurt tone that everyone started laughing.

When they went out to follow Tegoshi who was already on his way to the training ground, Kentaro appeared in front of them.

“Is something up?” Nikaido asked worried.

“Nothing special, I just wanted to talk to Ueda for a moment.”

“Sure,” Ueda replied, but then Kentaro looked from him back to his brother, biting his lip.

“Alone, if possible.”

Now Nikaido raised an eyebrow at him before turning to Ueda with an almost evil glare.

 “What’s going on here?” He asked, looking from one to the other, while the others had already followed Tegoshi.

“Don’t look at me!” Ueda said holding his hands up like he wanted to have nothing to do with this.

“Kentaro?”

“As I said, nothing special!” Kentaro shrugged with his shoulders before passing his brother and taking Ueda’s arm to drag him away.

“What the-“ When Nikaido was left behind without his little brother even giving him any explanation before he went over to the city hall with Ueda he let out an annoyed groan. But for now he decided to not interfere. He had enough problems with Kame and Fujigaya already.

***

“So what now?” Kentaro asked when they were out of hearing distance from Nikaido and luckily Nikaido went after the others after a moment.

“What do you mean?” Ueda asked confused.

“You said Kame would deal with their ‘relationship-problem’,” Kentaro started putting it in quotes with his hands. “But all he did until now, correct me if I saw it wrong, was really obviously flirting with Fujigaya, staying by his side all the time and training with him.”

“And?”

“And? That’s not pretty effective if you ask me! My brother is driving me insane at home! He always runs up and down the room like he would like to just walk over to Fujigaya and drag him away from Kame!”

“Oh that’s good!”

“Good? Are you even listening to me?” Kentaro asked, ready to freak. For Ueda this might be funny, but Kentaro was really about to lose it if his brother let out one more sigh.

“It’s time for the final step!” Ueda said happily when he passed Kentaro. “Are you coming? You don’t want to miss Tegoshi’s and Kame’s fight!”

“Fight? What fight?” Even though Kentaro wanted to argue, because Ueda just ended their conversation without any clear answer he was way too confused about what he had just said to start this topic again.

When they arrived at the training ground almost the whole village was gathered. Tegoshi had interfered in Kame’s and Fujigaya’s training, shouting at Kame while Fujigaya withdraw a little bit, knowing that Tegoshi wasn’t in the mood to get calmed down by anyone.

Kentaro and the others were too far away to hear what they were saying clearly, but Kentaro was still curious.

“Ueda, what’s going on?” He finally asked.

“You could say they have to settle an old score,” Ueda replied chuckling.

“You must know, Tegoshi was a pretty good Phenomenist from the start and everything we taught him he could use double as effective after just a few days,” Nakamaru explained, now everyone’s eyes on him now.

“Sure back then we didn’t know ourselves how much more features were hidden in our powers, but all we knew we taught Tegoshi and Massu so they could teach it to someone like you,” Junno added pointing at Kishi, Hokuto and Kento, which were listening carefully.

“But even though Tegoshi was so skilled with all the powers he could never win against Kame!” Ueda said. “He didn’t even hit him once.”

“What? Not even once?” Kentaro asked impressed.

“He never even got close to hit him even though he used so much power that he collapsed after every fight.”

“So why is he so angry now?”

“Before we left, Kame had told him that he would finally tell him the secret of why he couldn’t beat him, not even hit him, but he had to at least bring him out of balance or get so close to him that he needed to defend himself. But of course Tegoshi couldn’t do it and collapsed. When he woke up again we were gone already.”

“Why did he do that?”

“Training! It was some kind of long-term training for Tegoshi! Kame wanted that he stayed concentrated and motivated over the whole time until we would come back.”

“So much about the fact that you were happy that I cared for you!” Massu said angry, hitting Nakamaru against the arm.

“Hey, that wasn’t my idea!”

“No if it would have been, I would be the one being angry at you and standing down there fighting!” Massu said kind of disappointed.

“Don’t be so disappointed! Your fighting skills were great back then and I bet they are still today. I know that you have enough self-discipline to carry on with your training yourself,” Nakamaru tried to comfort him.

“In plain terms, I’m a hopeless case, which you can’t teach anything new anymore.” Massu pouted turning away from Nakamaru while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“I can train you!” Junno offered with a bright smile.

Massu replied with a brief fake-smile before answering. “No.”

This one little word, Massu’s intonation and Junno’s depressed look made everyone burst into laughter.

But when they heard a huge impact they all spun around to the fighting ground again where Tegoshi had finally started the fight.

Tegoshi wasted no time opening a crack towards Kame, making him jump to the side, but the moment he landed graceful as he was a few meters away as he slid away on the wind, Tegoshi rushed forward, now instead of attacking with his powers attacking with kicks and punches and even though Kame dodged them all without any problems Kentaro was more than impressed.  He never saw Tegoshi so concentrated and determined while fighting. He was so good not even with his powers, but also in normal martial arts fighting. Kentaro didn’t want to imagine how strong Kame must be, if he would not just dodge, but attack.

Kentaro looked at the others and seeing how all three of them watched the fight with a light smile on their faces he finally understood how awesome they must be.

Sure before with Ryosuke they had problems as well, but that was because they were trying to protect everyone. If they were fighting without any other people around them they might be able to roll over the whole city all by themselves.

Kentaro’s look fell on his brother for a moment, but he was of course not watching the fight at all, but starring at Fujigaya instead who stood at the other side of the training ground watching Kame.

“Watch out.”

Kentaro didn’t even get what was happening when Ueda called out to him, not even worried a little bit, but in a totally calm voice before he dragged him towards him the moment a wind gust sliced through the ground where he had been standing a moment ago.

“Sorry, Kentaro! Are you okay?” Kentaro turned towards Tegoshi who shouted over to him.

He just nodded and Tegoshi turned around again looking at Kame, but wasn't attacking. For a moment they just stared at each other.

“What the hell?” Kentaro was still a little bit shocked, but even more he was impressed.

“That’s the difference between their fight and a real one,” Ueda explained. “If something gets out of control they will fix it! No attacks behind each other’s back, no attacks which will put others in danger, those are the rules. So they stop for a moment when they get carried away too much.”

Then without any kind of warning Tegoshi leaped forward, sliding on the wind and attacking Kame right on again as if nothing had happened.

“You got better!” Kame admitted while dodging all his attacks.

“Not good enough it seems,” Tegoshi yelled at him as he let a huge stone crack out the ground, lifting Kame up with it, but Kame just smiled before he crushed the stone into little pieces, making Tegoshi jump out of his reach.

While Kame was calm and waited for another attack, Tegoshi was already breathing hard obviously stressed by the fight.

The next time he leaped forward he screamed and cursed as he attacked Kame with several different attacks. But Kame destroyed his stone and plant creations, wiggled himself away elegant from all cracks and wind gusts, making Tegoshi attack wild around him.

“I would say that was it,” Ueda said while Tegoshi was still trying to somehow get a grip on Kame.

“Yep.” Nakamaru and Junno agreed at the same moment.

“What? But they are still in-“ In the middle of the fight Kentaro wanted to say as his eyes fell back on Tegoshi and the moment he lunged out for a punch as he was inside of Kame’s reach his movements stopped as he hit into Kame’s palm.

For a moment they stared at each other before Kame had to catch him as his knees finally gave in and he lost consciousness.

“We were sleeping for a week and it took him amazingly half an hour to get unconscious again, great!” Massu said shaking his head.

Fujigaya was the first to rush over to them, helping Kame to carry Tegoshi. Kentaro was the next one to approach them together with Junno, Nakamaru and Ueda.

Nakamaru and Junno took care of Tegoshi. “So back to where we started, off to Miyata’s house.” Junno said in a teasing voice.

Kame was smiling after them and Kentaro could see that he was really proud of the powers Tegoshi had developed over the time even though he was still not good enough to win against him.

“Let’s go!” He said to Fujigaya and Kentaro, but when they wanted to move over to the others Kame had to grab Fujigaya’s arm as he lost balance for a moment.

“Oh, that’s surprising,” he admitted.

“Everything alright?” Kentaro asked worried.

“Yeah, don’t worry. But I guess he got better than I first thought,” he explained with a smile now stabilizing himself on Fujigaya’s shoulder.

Kentaro looked up to his brother and he could see how he clenched his fists when Kame put his arm around Fujigaya. He was still not sure how this ‘plan’ of Kame and Ueda would work, but for now he wanted to put his trust into them.

 

 


	26. matchmakers

Another sigh. Kentaro was about to freak out. If he wouldn’t be in such good control of his powers by now, he would have kicked his brother out by now.

“Nii-san would you please stop it?” He asked, trying to keep a nice tone.

“Stop what?” Nikaido asked while sitting at the table hands crossed in front of his face.

“Being so whiny!”

“I’m not! Everything is fine.”

Kentaro was about to explode when someone knocked on the door.

“Ueda, what is it?” Kentaro asked confused when he opened the door and a smiling Ueda was standing right in front of him.

“Can I borrow you for a moment?” He asked still smiling, looking at Nikaido who just raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ll return him later!” Ueda promised Nikaido before grabbing Kentaro‘s arm dragging him after him without waiting for any reaction from Nikaido.

“What’s going on?” He finally asked when they went over to Ueda’s house.

“You’ll see,” was all he answered and when they arrived in front his house and someone was coming around the veranda Kentaro finally understood.

“Taiga,” He said more to himself now realizing that the next stage regarding his brother and Fujigaya was what was going on.

It was already getting dark and Kentaro could still see the light in their house as Nikaido came out.

“As expected,” Ueda said satisfied.

Neither Kentaro nor Taiga wanted to ask for details of this plan, but when Nikaido left for the direction of Fujigaya’s house there was at least one big question left.

“Ueda, isn’t Kame still at Fujigaya’s house?” Kentaro asked worried.

“That’s the clue of this plan!” Ueda admitted with a lopsided smile. “Don’t worry, it will be alright.”

“But why is he leaving for our house exactly now? He could have done so all the time.” Taiga asked curious.

“The problem was Kentaro.”

“Why? What did I do?” He asked confused.

“You were there, that was all. Your brother is used to take care of you and stay at your side and now that he is so troubled he sees you as some kind of harbor where he can stay without moving on. But of course the problem remains. I guess you have noticed that.”

“Oh yes I did!” Kentaro growled thinking about all those evenings when his brother was driving him insane over his relationship problems.

“So now that he knows that I’m taking care of you he finally had to face his problems and fears.”

“I hope this is going as you planned though. If he gets even worse after this, I’m going to move into your house!” Kentaro said gaining a smile from Ueda.

“Fine with me."

***

“What could Ueda want from Taiga?” Fujigaya asked curious after Ueda had almost dragged Taiga out his house.

“Who knows?” Kame replied shrugging his shoulders, sitting at the table with Fujigaya, discussing his training’s plan.

Fujigaya looked out the window for a moment, but because it was about to get dark he couldn’t see Taiga and Ueda anymore.

“Taisuke, would you please concentrate?” Kame hit him on the forehead when he ignored him.

“Oh sorry.”

“As I said next time I will observe the training while Tegoshi and Massu will fight you.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Kame’s tone told him that this wasn’t the answer he expected.

“Not okay?” He asked confused, but Kame just shook his head, continuing.

“When that works Nikaido is the next one who is going to train with you!”

No answer.

“Okay?”

Still no answer, instead Fujigaya looked down on the table uncomfortable.

“I asked you something!” Kame said in a strict voice lifting up Fujigaya’s chin so he would face him, but he looked away right away.

“Then forget it.” Kame took away the training’s plan and stood up, looking annoyed at Fujigaya who looked at him kind of apologizing, but he was still not saying anything.

When Kame turned to obviously leave Fujigaya stood up and took a grip on his sleeve.

“What?” Kame asked annoyed.

“Don’t leave me alone,” Fujigaya whispered.

“I’ll stay, if you are willing to train!”

Again no answer, Fujigaya took his hand off him and turned away. That was enough for Kame. He kicked the chair he was sitting on before through half the room, making Fujigaya flinch.

“What is it you want?” He almost yelled.

“What do you mean?” Fujigaya asked confused and kind of scared, Kame wasn’t the type to scream at people normally.

Fujigaya took a few steps backwards when Kame glared at him and moved closer with threatening steps. Kame grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him into the wall.

Fujigaya didn’t dare to say anything when Kame just stared at him angrily, digging his fingers into his shoulders as he turned his face away.

“Look at me!” He said in a demanding voice.

Fujigaya turned his face towards him unwillingly.

“Now tell me what the hell it is that you want?”

Again Fujigaya tried to look down avoiding his questions, but Kame wouldn’t let him. He put one hand from his shoulder under his chin, but this time his grip was tighter than before.

“You can say anything you want, but say something.”

“I don’t know. I just want to control my powers and-“

“Leave that crap for someone who believes it!”

“But, that’s all. I don’t know what you mean.”

“TAISUKE!” Kame pushed him with such a force into the wall that Fujigaya couldn’t breathe for a moment, he had never seen him so angry, he had never screamed at him like that. “The truth! All I want is the truth, but if you won’t tell me, I will!”

Kame put his hand on Fujigaya’s cheek, this time with a gentle touch and then he leant forward whispering into his ear.

“You still like me, don’t you?”

Fujigaya froze, so many thoughts were rushing through his head and he didn’t know what to reply. Kame backed off a little bit making Fujigaya relax at least for a small moment. The truth crushed on him like a huge wave. It wasn’t like he didn’t notice himself, but he had tried to ignore it. When they lived in the village he already had a thing for Kame, but he wrote him off as a crush and forgot about it until now. Who would have guessed that his feelings didn’t change over the time? But the problem was that the situation did.

Fujigaya flinched when Kame moved again. This time taking his head into his hands facing him straight on. When he leant forward he knew what was coming and for just the blink of an eye he wanted to give in, but there was something that had changed, something that made him turn away his face before Kame’s lips could brush over his.

“You still like me, but you like him more than me!” Kame said with a bitter chuckle. Fujigaya looked to the ground and the moment he thought about him he felt something, something that made him raise his head and look to the window with wide eyes.

“Nika…”

Kame followed his gaze and then he saw Nika standing next to the window looking at them with a mixture of various emotions before he turned and left into the dark night.

“No, Nika! WAIT!” Fujigaya shoved Kame out of his way, even if he would have tried stop him he wouldn’t have been able to.

“You are so blind Taisuke!” Kame said chuckling, looking after Fujigaya who rushed out the house after Nikaido. “I hope you take better care of you two from now on!”

***

“Nika! Nika, wait! Please!” Fujigaya was chasing after Nikaido, but every time he tried to get a grip on him he shook him off. So in the end Fujigaya blocked his way, taking him by the shoulders. “Would you stop and listen to me!”

“Listen to you? Why should I? I tried to talk to you all those days and you ignored me.” Nikaido slashed away Fujigaya’s hands, yelling at him. “Instead you chose his company and now I finally know why!”

Nikaido wanted to pass him again, but Fujigaya wouldn’t let him get away so easily, he knew he had just one chance.

“Nika, please let me explain!”

Nikaido rolled his eyes, but finally stopped and waited.

“Yes I liked Kame since the moment we have met after the war and-“ He paused for a moment looking Nikaido briefly in the eyes and his look told him that he knew already what he was about to say. “And yes I still like him.”

Nikaido growled, looking away even though he didn’t want to show any reaction.

“But- and this is the most important part, I love! You could say that Kame was something like my crush all the time, but when you came into my life I’ve even forgotten about him until now.”

“He didn’t as it seems,” Nikaido said angry still having the scene from before in his head.

“But that doesn’t matter, because I will never choose him over you.”

For a moment Nikaido didn’t react and Fujigaya wasn’t sure if it wasn’t already too late to rescue their relationship.

When Nikaido stepped forward stopping directly in front of him, Fujigaya took a step back automatically as he had done all the time.

Nikaido’s eyes narrowed and Fujigaya saw anger in them. As he stepped forward again Fujigaya took another step backwards, he cursed himself for that, but his body acted automatically.

“GAYA!” When Nikaido shouted at him he flinched looking at him with wide eyes. “You can be scared of your power, that’s fine. You can try to earn control over them with Kame’s help, that’s also fine. You are more than allowed to fear that you can hurt me with your new powers. But you are not allowed to run away and hide, because this is what hurts me the most!”

Fujigaya froze as he saw the tears glittering in Nikaido’s eyes, even though he tried to sound angry.

“If you take one more step backwards, I swear I will grab my little brother and leave this village for good.”

They didn’t move for a moment until Nikaido was sure that Fujigaya had gotten his message and when he took another step forward he was finally standing right in front of him, looking him into the eyes and he wasn’t running away anymore.

When Nikaido put his hand around Fujigaya’s neck he froze looking away panicked.

“Gaya, look at me.”

This time he didn’t have to yell at him or ask another time, this time Fujigaya just did as he said, even though his face still gave doubts away.

“It will be alright, don’t worry,” Nikaido whispered after he leant forward, his breath on Fujigaya’s lips. And then finally, after it felt like an eternity of resignation, he could feel him again. Feeling the warmth of his lips against his and even though he was kind of tense he could feel his own longing as well.

Nikaido didn’t want to strain him too much, so he backed off unwillingly after a while.

“See, nothing happened!” He announced with a brief smile.

“Because you didn’t steal my powers,” Fujigaya replied in a low voice.

“And because you didn’t transfer them to me. So as long as you are unsure about this, I won’t steal them and you don’t have to give them to me.”

Fujigaya seemed kind of happy about this deal before he finally gave him an honest smile. It had taken them way too long to get back to this secure feeling.

***

“Okay I’m not quite sure what just happened, but it seems like your plan worked out!” Kentaro admitted as Ueda, Taiga and him were observing Fujigaya and Nikaido from a safe distance.

“Told you there is nothing to worry about!” Ueda replied smiling, ruffling through Kentaro’s hair. “So I guess you can go home again for now, I doubt that they will try to stay the night together, that might take a little while. But don’t worry your brother should be in a normal mood again!” Ueda added after seeing Kentaro’s doubtful look.

“I hope you are right!” Kentaro sighed, gaining a small chuckle from Ueda.

“If not just come over to my house, you can stay there if you want!” With that Ueda left them behind.

“That was some kind of invitation!” Taiga said smiling, hitting Kentaro on the shoulder before turning to leave for his house as well.

“Shut up!”

When he saw his mocking smile he turned for his own house as well before turning around once more. “If your brother is in a bad mood, because neither my brother nor Kame is around you don’t have to come to my house!”

“I might ask Ueda, if I can stay at his house then instead of you, but who knows if he will let me.”

Kentaro just rolled his eyes on him before he finally turned to leave.


	27. Confession

 

 

“I know how you feel about this idea, but think about the possibilities.”

“No Kame, I won`t even think about it once.” Nikaido heard Wataru replying angry as he entered the city hall together with Fujigaya. It seemed like they were in some kind of battle discussion.

“You can`t just get your people down here and tell us to fight another war.”

“It won`t be a war, it is more like a secret mission.”

“A mission for which we will need every phenomenist we can find. I don`t want to risk their lives, when we just have a small chance of winning.”

“But the chance is not small.”

“Just because you sent Taguchi and Nakamaru to get those 5star fighters down here to train us, doesn`t mean we are getting invincible!”

“Give them a chance, okay? You can decide after a few days or even weeks of training.”

Wataru didn`t seem convinced, but for now he let the topic drop.

“Oh, hey. I didn`t even see you coming in. Good morning.” Kame said waving at them.

“Morning.” Fujigaya said in a tired voice walking passed Nikaido over to them. Even if it didn`t seem like it, it was really a coincidence that they were entering the city hall at the same time, but Kame`s face told Nikaido already that he knew what was going on. He was more than sure that Kame and Ueda were the ones they had to thank for finally finding back together. Fujigaya still tried to keep some distance, but Nikaido was fine with it, as long as he would talk to him and not run away anymore.

“What do you think?”

“Eh?” Nikaido needed a moment to realize that Kame asked him and Fujigaya.

“About what?”

“About what we talked about earlier.”

“Sorry we just got the rest of it.”

“Ah okay, I can explain it to you.”

“Kame, enough for today. No one has to know until I didn`t decide what we do.”

“But-“

“I said no! End of the discussion! Excuse me for now. I have more important things to do!” It was hard to make Wataru angry, but apparently Kame was good at that. They all looked after him as he walked out the building and slammed the door behind him.

"I guess it is better when we just drop this topic for now." Fujigaya suggested.

"You will get to know about it in about three days anyways." Kame explained, still looking kind of angry at Wataru's behavior.

"You can't blame him. You know what he thinks about attacking the city."

"Yes I know, but I still think it's the only way. But okay, if he thinks it’s better like this, we will wait until Junno and Nakamaru are back." Kame excused himself leaving Fujigaya and Nikaido alone in the city hall.

"By the way, why did you come here?" Nikaido asked finally.

"What? Oh, I was just looking for Wataru."

"For?"

"For what?"

"No Gaya that's my question. For what did you search him?"

"No special reason." He shrugged his shoulders, but his face gave his thoughts away anyways.

"Could it be by any chance that you wanted to ask him for a training permission for you and me?"

"What?" He almost yelled it at Nikaido giving the truth away even more. He was allowed to train with Kame, but Wataru said it would be too dangerous to train with someone else, especially with Nikaido.

"That's at least why I came here." Nikaido said still waiting for an answer.

"That would be way too dangerous." Fujigaya said not even convincing himself.

As he tried to turn away from Nikaido he grabbed his shoulder turning him back.

"What?" Fujigaya asked in an almost scared voice as Nikaido gave him an evil glare.

"You want to run away forever?"

"No, I just don't know where we should start."

"So you want us to train, right?"

Fujigaya just nodded. Nikaido was right and he knew that. Their teamwork was just too good and Nikaido's ability to steal his powers still too unexplored to let them stop fighting like this. They knew themselves that there would be the time coming when they had to fight again and when it would come they wanted to fight together.

"Nika, what are you doing?" As Fujigaya didn’t pay attention Nikaido had pushed him careful, but determined backwards until he collided with the wall.

"Just shut up for a moment would you."

"But-"

Fujigaya wanted to stop him, but Nikaido grabbed his hair, interrupting his sentence to shut him up with a kiss.

Fujigaya was still afraid that something could happen, but Nikaido promised him to not steal his powers, so he trusted him.

Finally he relaxed and moved softly against the other one’s lips. He felt how much Nikaido was longing for this. He put his hands around Nikaido’s neck and even though a part of him tried to push him away, the other part tried to pull him even closer.

Nikaido put his forehead against his as they parted in the need of air.

“See, all good.” Nikaido said in a teasing voice.

“Shut up!” Fujigaya scolded him before he kissed him this time, his longing part way stronger than his protective one. He slipped his hands under Nikaido’s shirt. It felt like he would touch him for the first time.

“Maybe we should relocate this.” Nikaido said backing off abrupt.

First Fujigaya wanted to argue, but then he concentrated his powers and there were way too many people around the building that was for sure.

“You didn’t steal my powers, did you?”

“No, I just thought that the city hall wouldn’t be the perfect place for this.”

Fujigaya gave him a doubting look, but he wouldn’t risk it to steal his powers at the moment, he knew that.

“Then let’s search ourselves a better place.” Fujigaya said kind of inviting, making Nikaido smile as they walked out the city hall together.

“Taisuke.” When Taiga appeared in front of them right out of nowhere they both flinched.

“Woah Taiga, don’t scare us like that.”

“Sorry.” He said apologizing, but smiling. “I just wanted to tell you that I go over to Kishi and Aran for a while. We will go for some field work later and have to go on patrol as well, so don’t wait for me!” With that he waved at them leaving towards Kishi’s house.

“I would say we just found our place to go.” Nikaido said with a lopsided smile towards Fujigaya, who didn’t reply anything, instead he smiled back teasing before turning towards the direction of his house making Nikaido follow him.

“I hope they can really find back together as before.” Taiga said after he had stopped behind a building next to Kentaro, who had waited for him.

“I hope so, too. But for now giving them some time together is the only thing we can do.” Kentaro said in a worried voice. He knew it was hard for his brother to keep Fujigaya or at least his powers at distance.

“So then I’m off! See you later!” Taiga said waving at him before leaving for Kishi’s house. At least they didn’t lie about his plans. They just showed them where to go, the rest was their own business.

“You really care for your brother.” Kentaro wasn’t even surprised when Ueda put his hand on his shoulder from behind. He was around him a lot recently and somehow he felt his presence all the time, not regarding how far apart they were.

“All this time he protected me and cared for me. I figured it’s finally time to repay him, even though I can’t do so much.”

“What you are doing is already enough. Don’t worry, they will be alright.”

Kentaro looked up at Ueda smiling. He felt comfortable around him, but it was also a little bit weird. He couldn’t explain it, but if it was about training or just talking, every time he was together with Ueda he felt different and he couldn’t explain why.

“Ueda, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

Kentaro took a look around. Massu was walking up to the fighting ground with Tegoshi and Kame. Tegoshi obviously still trying to make Kame fight him again. Miyata was running around with some medication followed by Kento and Hokuto which had become something like his new pupils over the time. Kentaro was happy to see that at least for now and may it be just one day or one hour the world seemed okay.

“Kentaro?” Ueda asked again after Kentaro had spaced out a little bit.

“Oh sorry. Do you mind if we go to your house?”

Ueda smiled on this question and Kentaro was not sure himself why he couldn’t talk to him here, but somehow this feeling told him it would be better to talk in private.

“Come in.”

Kentaro must have been so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t even realize that they had already arrived at Ueda’s house, after all the village wasn’t that big.

It was the same small wooden house as for all of them, but it somehow seemed like he would have lived here already for a long time.

“Was this your house already before you left for the north with the others?”

“Yes we built all the houses ourselves. We also built the city hall. But Mitsu and the others built a lot more buildings until now. In the beginning there were just a few.”

“Now it makes sense why they were empty all the time.”

“Yes, we told them we would be coming back and here we are.” Ueda stood in front of him with spread arms like he would have performed some kind of magical trick.

“Are you laughing at me?” Ueda asked with a raised eyebrow as Kentaro couldn’t suppress a chuckle.

“No, I would never do that.” He said ironic sitting down on one of the chairs next to the table where Ueda just sat down as well.

“So what do you want to talk about?”

“What? Oh yeah, right.” It was really hard for Kentaro to concentrate and he just couldn’t find out why. Of course he was worried about his brother and the future of the village, but that would normally not make him so absent minded.

“Kentaro, you can tell me, whatever it is.” Ueda said leaning on the table looking at Kentaro who was sitting on the other side.

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, it is more like I don’t know what to tell you.” Kentaro said honest.

“Don’t worry, I will listen even when it is weird stuff.” Ueda’s comforting tone made Kentaro smile briefly at him. This was exactly what he meant. It was so easy for him to make Kentaro feel safe and comfortable.

“I have some kind of weird feeling at the moment, nothing bad or more like I think it is not bad. But I am also not sure if this feeling is connected to my powers or if it is really just some feeling.” Kentaro paused for a moment ruffling through his hair. “This must sound totally confusing to you and I know I shouldn’t bother you with this.”

“But this feeling has something to do with me, that is why you are telling me, right?”

Kentaro looked at him with wide eyes, as if he felt caught even though he was about to tell him exactly what he had obviously figured out himself already.

“How did you know?”

“Maybe, because I know this feeling or to be more direct, because I feel exactly the same.”

“So it has something to do with our powers?” Kentaro’s question made Ueda chuckle, but Kentaro could see that he wasn’t making fun out of him.

“You really think that?”

“I’m not sure what to think. I never felt this before.”

“Then let me explain it to you in a way so that there are no misunderstandings.” Ueda stood up, stopping right in front of Kentaro.

He put one hand on the table next to him and then lifted Kentaro’s head up with the other one.

Kentaro had expected much when he decided to tell Ueda, but he hadn’t expected to get kissed by him. Kentaro did nothing, he didn’t struggle, he didn’t move, he just let it happen and as Ueda backed off he looked at him even more confused than before.

“The reason why you never felt this before might be, because you never fell in love before.” Ueda explained smiling.

So Kentaro was sure of two things. This feeling had absolutely nothing to do with their powers and his brother might freak out if he told him that Ueda had just kissed him.

 


	28. the 5 star fighters

 

Kentaro stroke over his lips with his fingers for the dozen’s time already. After Ueda had kissed him and told him that he fell in love with him and also told him that his own feelings, which he couldn’t explain were maybe because of the same reason, he couldn’t get a single straight thought together.

Ueda had told him to think about all this for a while and so he left his house without even saying anything else. For the rest of the day he was sitting in his own house doing absolutely nothing.

“That can’t be true, he must be joking,” He said to himself still deep in his thoughts.

“Who is joking?”

He spun around when a hand landed on his shoulder and even though he was in a really good control of his powers by now he almost cracked open the floor out of surprise.

“Nii-san, don’t scare me like that,” Kentaro scolded Nikaido, which was looking at him questioning but smiling before moving around the table and sat down opposite of him.

“You seem kind of bothered by something?”

“Oh it’ nothing, don’t worry,” Kentaro lied trying to smile and hide his confusion about what had happened before. “You seem more than happy on the other hand, did something good happen?”

He could feel that his brother didn’t believe him, but he hoped that he would let the topic drop for now.

“Yes, something good indeed,” Nikaido said smiling and Kentaro knew exactly that he shouldn’t ask more, because he didn’t even want to hear about what his brother and Fujigaya were doing in private. He didn’t need more confusing things around him at the moment.

“Do you think you two can start training again?”

“I hope so! But I am not sure how to start. Kame seems not really in the mood to train us, it seems like he is waiting for something.”

“Or someone.”

“What?”

“Didn’t Nakamaru and Junno leave for the north to bring someone here?”

“But who?”

“Maybe someone who can help you?”

“So someone stronger than the four?”

“Not necessarily stronger, but maybe special, like you two!”

Nikaido didn’t know if he should be happy about that possibility or worried, but two days later he was about to find out finally.

He was just on his way to Fujigaya’s house as he saw how Nakamaru and Junno came out the forest with 5 men following them.

A few minutes later they were all gathered at the city hall waiting for Kame to finally explain to them what was going on, even though Wataru seemed still angry about Kame’s decision to get them here.

“Okay everyone is here it seems, so let me explain to you what is going on.” Kame started as Fujigaya and Taiga stepped inside the city hall stopping next to Nikaido and Kentaro.

“Let me introduce to you our elite fighters of the north.” Kame pointed out at the five young men which Junno and Nakamaru had apparently picked up from their quarter.

“Hasshi?” Kame asked after a while, when no one of the five spoke up.

“What?” The obvious youngest one of the group asked confused.

“How about you introduce yourself or do you want me to explain everything?” Kame asked kind of amused by his shy behavior.

“No, I will do it.” He said not really convinced himself, stepping forward a little bit. “Ehm, hello everyone. Sorry for intruding like this, we heard from Nakamaru that there was a lot of trouble in your village, so I can imagine that you are not that happy to see even more strangers coming here, but we are here to help you.” He paused for a moment looking briefly at everyone before looking to the ground obviously nervous.

No one could blame him. The atmosphere was heavy and even though Kentaro was normally the type to try to get everyone cheered up, he felt the same as them right now. His brother had his problems with Fujigaya, which had enough problems with himself. Most of the villagers were still shocked about Myuto’s and Keiichiro’s death, as well as of Ryosuke’s betrayal. And this time Kentaro also had enough problems and worries himself as well. It was for sure not the best timing for Kame and the others to get new strangers into the village.

“Oh come on everyone, we came here on the request of our teachers, but we came to help you, so how about a little bit more attention?” Everyone looked up sceptic as one of the men behind Hasshi spoke up, moving past him.

“Kawai, it might be not the best timing for encouragement speaks!” Hasshi tried to stop him, but Kawai just slapped him on the shoulder with a big smile forming on his lips.

“Trust me, it is the perfect timing!” Hasshi wasn’t convinced of that and also the other men shook their heads on his behavior like something bad was about to happen.

“So listen up everyone, we are the 5 star fighters and we are here to train you!”

When Kishi couldn’t suppress a small chuckle, Kawai turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

“Something funny, boy?”

“Is it really the time to make some stupid team name up?”

“Why shouldn’t we?” Kawai asked really serious.

“Maybe because we are in a really dark age and our lives get threatened by the realitists?” Aran said interfering, crossing his arms in front of his chest as Kawai stepped forward so that he was in his reach.

“And?”

“And? Are you kidding me? We have better things to do than playing Sentai Ranger here.”

Kishi tensed when Kawai took Aran by the collar, but he didn’t interfere, sensing something dangerous about the man.

“Let me make something clear here!” He started before letting go of him again and pointed at everyone in front of him! “No one is playing around here. If you don’t take us serious we can also leave again. But having the time and of all the calm to form a team has nothing to do with playing around. It is more the opposite. Clannishness is the most important thing we need at the moment.”

Kawai walked back to his companions putting his hand on Hasshi’s shoulder. “I would give my life for every single one of them as I would do for my teachers. The question is would you do the same for each other?” He asked pointing out at them.

While Fujigaya and Nikaido shared a long look on that comment knowing their answer already, as most of the others did, there were a few, which showed unsureness, as did Kentaro. Of course he would do everything to rescue his brother, but he felt that it was different with other people. Sure Taiga and the others grew to be his best friends or more like his new family, but there were also others. As he thought about that question his look fell intuitively on Ueda, who looked direct into his eyes. Kentaro looked away afraid that he would see his doubts. But what confused him the most was that when he thought about sacrificing his life for Ueda his answer wasn’t necessarily no.

“And!” Kawai’s angry and way too loud voice ripped Kentaro out of his thoughts again.

Kawai rushed forward,  stopping right in front of Kishi.

“And?” Kishi asked kind of scared.

“And our team name is not stupid!”

This time it was Kame who couldn’t suppress a chuckle, which turned into a huge laughter when the other five star members tried to hide their chuckles, but burst out laughing. 

So the team name was definitely Kawai’s doing, Kentaro was sure of at least that when he caught himself smiling as he looked around and most of the others tried to not burst out laughing themselves.

“Okay, so let me introduce you to your new trainers!” Kame interfered finally. “Hasshi will be in charge of the power concentration training and trust me, even if he is young, don’t underestimate him. Kento this might be the perfect training for you.”

Kento just nodded not sure if he should be happy about it. Hasshi seemed a little bit shy, but on the other side Kento could feel that he was definitely taking his task serious.

 “Totsu will be your trainer for defense. This is most important for our impatient people around.”

“What? Why is everyone looking at me?” Massu asked confused.

“You really have to ask?” Tegoshi replied laughing.

“Be careful, if you attack wild around he won’t just teach you defense, but also his by the way awesome fast offensive skills.” Kame explained.

Massu let out a doubting sound while crossing his arms in front of his chest. “We will see about that.” He said challenging, looking at Nakamaru for a moment, who taught both of them.

“You might lose a pupil in the next days.” Junno said teasing before getting a hit on the back of his head from Nakamaru.

“At least I have pupils to lose,” He countered with a lopsided smile.

“Goseki will be in charge of the tactic training! Wataru, I would like you, Taiga and Hokuto to participle in this training the most!”

Wataru just nodded lightly obviously still angry at Kame for bringing them to the village in the first place. But he promised him to give them a chance, so he would.

“Tsukada will teach you combat fighting and when I mean you, I mean all of you! Even though our phenomenistic powers are our best weapon, there are also times when we have to rely on our martial art skills as well.”

Kentaro knew exactly what he meant. He saw it in the fight between him and Tegoshi before. Even though they were both phenomenists they were fighting with punches and kicks as well to not use up their powers unnecessarily.

“Of course we will teach you as well.” Kame added pointing at Ueda and the others. “Except for Fujigaya and Nikaido!”

On this statement everyone turned around to them.

“Ah so those two are my victims for the next days?” It was Kawai who spoke up. Everyone made way when he moved through the hall stopping right in front of them.

“Kawai is really good with possessing powers, so he can help you to get in control of your new powers.” Kame explained as Fujigaya looked at him worried.

“I’m really looking forward to see your powers.” Kawai said in a really excited voice. “Let’s see if we can transfer them to your boyfriend without him being killed!”

“What?” Nikaido and Fujigaya shouted at the same time, first looking at Kawai and then at each other. Fujigaya looked away first, but when he looked at his little brother, who obviously tried to hide a smile behind his hands in front of his face, he realized that he must have blushed.

When he looked back at Nikaido he saw that Nikaido’s reaction was not out of the same reason. He was shocked by the ‘getting killed’ part of the sentence, while he himself reacted on the ‘boyfriend’ part, even though he knew that everyone knew of course. But hearing it from a stranger like this was still weird for him, even after such a long while. Maybe also because they just found back together.

“Oh aren’t they cute?” Kawai added putting his hands in each other, leaning his head to the side and blinking at them with a teasing smile.

“Shut up!” Again they were perfectly synchronic and this time Taiga burst out laughing, making the rest laugh with him.

Kentaro was the only one who still felt a little bit tense. Of course he smiled and tried to hide his worries, but he knew that the next days would be hard for everyone and maybe even revealed parts of themselves which they didn’t know existed or which they just didn’t want to get revealed at all.

He didn’t know if he was ready for their special training while his head was still filled up with this one question. He looked at Ueda again, but he was talking to Junno and Nakamaru, this time not meeting his look. Kentaro knew that he had to continue their conversation, but he still didn’t know how.


	29. test of patience

„Am I allowed to kill him?“ Massu growled after he couldn’t hit Totsu with a single attack for over half an hour already.

“As if you would have enough power left for that!” Nakamaru scolded him watching their fight while shaking his head almost nonstop.

“I’m fi-“ Massu stumbled over his own feet landing on his knees when he tried to leap forward for another attack.

“Finished?” Totsu asked teasing.

“Fine!” Massu yelled getting up again.

“You should attend Tsukada’s training as well.” Totsu said mockingly when Massu obviously wasn’t as fine as he said he would be, not even trying to attack anymore, breathing hard while stabilizing himself with his hands on his knees.

***

“What kind of strategy is that please? This plan would kill us all!” Wataru said annoyed trying to keep calm.

“It is risky, but if you don’t go with this plan everyone would be dead before you even tried another move.” Goseki explained completely calm.

“That’s why I said this plan wouldn’t work from the beginning.” Wataru growled.

“But if you don’t go with it form the beginning, you wouldn’t start moving at all.”

“That’s what I try to say the whole time already, there is no reason to move!” Wataru yelled this time raising his voice, so that Taiga and Hokuto flinched, backing off even more. When Goseki tried to explain a ‘possible’ secret attack plan on the city Wataru had already freaked after the first few sentences.

Taiga and Hokuto shared a look and they both knew that they couldn’t talk Wataru into a risky invasion plan, but they also knew that everyone else would be ready for it when the time was there.

***

“Kento’s or more like Fuma’s powers are really amazing,” Aran said astonished after Kento had attacked Hasshi with so many attacks that everyone else would have been out of powers or fainted already.

“And he even used fire attacks and he can still stand!” Kishi added, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“But I don’t get the point of the training to be honest. Hasshi is supposed to teach him how to let out just a little bit of his powers, to be able to create a big attack when needed, right?” Aran asked facing Junno, which was standing next to them. “But he is using attacks to defend himself as well all the time, this doesn’t seem like power concentration to me.”

Junno chuckled a little bit at his statement. “This is how it looks from the outside, but it is not randomly attacking, but necessary power release.”

Kishi and Aran stared at him obviously not getting his explanation. But before they could ask again they heard Kento scream out, but luckily not out of pain, but out of surprise.

Hasshi had shot a huge fire blast right next to him and with huge they really meant huge. It burned its way through the ground for almost ten meters. Kento stared at it in shock.

“How did he do that?” Kishi asked impressed.

“And the even more important question is, how is he still standing?” Alan asked staring at an exhausted, but still standing Hasshi.

“That’s what I meant with necessary power release. If you try to store up your power for a big attack, it would rip you apart after a while. That’s why he attacked with his powers from time to time after he was kind of fully charged up! Of course it is a huge release of power, but because the body wants it out and that as fast as possible it doesn’t make you collapse.”

They were still not sure if they got the explanation completely, but they were sure that they wanted to learn how to control their powers like that and if it was possible for a human to control the powers he got from a phenomenist like this as well.

***

“Senga calm down, you won’t be able to hit even once like that!” Miyata tried to explain him watching his not really effective fight against Tsukada.

“I am calm!” He shouted at him before he swirled around lunging out for several punches again, which of course went into nothing. “Stop grinning!” He screamed at Tsukada, which was blocking and dodging his attacks like they were nothing.

“Are you now also making fun out of me?” He asked when Tsukada made a completely unnecessary backflip in between his attacks.

“I am just passing some time until you get serious.”

“I am fucking serious!”

“For how long do they want to continue this?” Tegoshi asked as he appeared next to Miyata.

“Good question.”

“I should maybe just interfere, but-“

“But?”

Tegoshi grinned at him so wide that Miyata thought it must hurt.

“It is just too much fun watching!”

Miyata shook his head on that, but couldn’t suppress a small chuckle.

***

“You know I can’t really help you with your training, if you don’t do anything.” Kawai said annoyed rolling his eyes at Fujigaya who tried to keep as much distance between himself and the others around him.

“I showed you my powers just now or do you think that crytalile cell over there just came out of nowhere?” Fujigaya yelled at him, still not trusting him and being already annoyed by him after a few minutes.

“Oh yes I am so what of impressed!” Kawai gave him a sarcastic laugh while clapping his hands.

“I can try the next one on you, if you want! But don’t blame me, if you lose some parts of your body!”

“Taisuke cut it out!” Kame finally spoke up. “He is here to help you, but for that you have to cooperate."

Fujigaya flicked his tongue and turned to Nikaido, but his look told him that this time he agreed with Kame.

“So what do you want me to do?” He asked facing Kawai again.

“For now let me transfer my powers on you, like that I know better what I am dealing with.” Kawai stretched his hand out waiting for Fujigaya to step forward and give him his hand, but of course he hesitated.

“We can skip this step and you can already try to transfer your powers to your boyfriend, if this is easier for you.”

He hit his weak point again and also his attitude made him angry, he knew that he was right. They had to take this step by step.

“If something happens I don’t take the blame!” Fujigaya said warningly before he put his hand into Kawai’s.

“Don’t worry, if something is happening than not to me.”

Fujigaya didn’t get what he wanted to say with that, but he was too distracted by his fear that he could maybe really hurt him with his powers.

“Mhh.”

“What?”

“You suck.”

“What?”

“Your powers are weak and disordered and I guess your new crytalile powers won’t change that.”

“Thanks for the information.” Fujigaya growled annoyed before wanting to take his hand out of Kawai’s, but he wouldn’t let go.

“What are you doing?” He asked trying to get out of his grip maybe a little bit too panicked.

“The question is what you are not doing.”

“Eh?”

“How about you transfer your powers?”

“Are you crazy?” While Kawai talked in a calm and serious voice the whole time, Fujigaya was already about to lose it, a sharp wind already blowing around them.

“if you have forgotten I am here to teach you how to transfer and control you powers, so go on! I can’t help you just by feeling that your power control is crappy!”

“No, I will definitely not transfer them. Let go!” Fujigaya ripped his hand out of his grip finally taking Kawai almost off his feet with a wind gust in between them.

“Gaya calm down!” It was Nikaido who finally spoke up, but when he wanted to approach him, Kame signaled him not to interfere. Nikaido knew that it was for their own good, but he clenched his fists in anger, not trusting Kawai’s teaching methods.

“Okay, then let’s try this another way.” Kawai said with a light smile on his face, but Fujigaya wasn’t in the mood to try anything with him anymore.

“Just forget it, I will find another way.” A crack appeared in front of Fujigaya’s feet as he turned around, forcing him to stop.

“And that would be?”

On the change of Kawai’s tone Nikaido and Fujigaya looked at him surprised. Until now he was the funny and sarcastic guy, but now he sounded dead serious and even a little bit angry. Kame was the only one, which seemed not at all surprised by his change of mood.

“I will see-“ Now another crack appeared and Fujigaya had to jump to the side.

“Do you find this funny?” Kawai asked him in an angry voice. “Does your own life and the lives of the people around you mean so less to you?”

“You don’t even know me, how dare you judge me!” Fujigaya yelled at him, but he tried hard to not let his powers get out of control. The strong wind around them was already dangerous enough he didn’t want to hurt someone. “It’s exactly because I care that I am not using my powers.”

“So what would you do, if they were in danger? Would you still not use them?”

Fujigaya didn’t know an answer right away. He looked over his shoulder to Nikaido, but his worried look made him look away again.

“How about we just try it out? You might be more of the learning by doing person.”

Fujigaya couldn’t even ask what that was supposed to mean. In the matter of seconds roots were shooting out the ground wrapping itself around his legs and arms.

“What the hell?”

“Okay let the lesson begin!” Kawai walked over to Fujigaya, but when he walked passed him Fujigaya’s eyes widened as he realized what he was up to.

“No, leave him alone! You can’t be serious! Kame, do something!”

But Kame had crossed his arms in front of his chest looking at him with such a cold gaze that it made Fujigaya believe for a moment that he was dreaming and caught in a nightmare.

Fujigaya couldn’t move much, but he could move enough to look behind him and then he met Nikaido’s confused look.

“Nika, get away!”

But it was already too late, Kawai wrapped his feet into roots and Nika had no weapon to defend himself.

“Kawai, you can’t be serious?” Nikaido asked frightened when he stopped right in front of him, but his dark expression showed him that he was not just serious, but also ready to hurt him, if Fujigaya wasn’t using his powers. “Kame!” Nikaido knew that Kame was the only one who could help them at the moment, but he didn’t seem on their side. He would make him pay for this later, if they were going to come out of this unhurt.

Nikaido flinched when Kawai put his hand on his cheek and even though he slashed it away right away, Kawai’s satisfied look made him realize something horrible.

“So the lesson’s preparations are complete!” With a snip of his fingers the roots around the two went back into the ground.

“You fucking asshole!” Fujigaya stormed forward, ready to punch him, but Kawai stretched his arm out signalizing him to stop.

“If I were you, I would make not a single step anymore.”

“And the reason for that would be?”

“Because he is so important to you!” He pointed to Nikaido behind him who looked at Fujigaya almost terrified and when Fujigaya met his eyes, he realized why.

“No you didn’t…” But the moment Fujigaya took another step forward Kawai lifted his hand and Nikaido screamed out, falling to his knees.

“NIKA!”

“I said no step!” The moment Fujigaya tried to move forward again Nikaido screamed out once more.

“Stop it! What is it that you want anyways?”

“I want you to attack!”

“What?”

Another horrified scream form Nika, which was holding his arms crossed in front of his upper body his face twisted in pain.

“If you ask this stupid question again, I will hurt him over and over! Don’t play dumb! You know as well as everyone else that you are not attacking, because you are afraid of hurting him as soon as we say you are ready to transfer your powers to him.”

Fujigaya didn’t reply, instead he faced the ground.

“Attack!” Kawai ordered again, but Fujigaya shook his head, tears glittering in his eyes.

“I said ATTACK!” He moved his hand again and this time Nika went to the ground completely his screams so painful that Fujigaya put his hands to his ears.

“Maybe you need a little bit more motivation!” On the sound of a sword getting pulled out of its sheath Fujigaya looked up again and the moment Kawai turned around and approached Nikaido so fast that he wouldn’t reach him in time he knew it was now or never. He felt that Kawai wasn’t bluffing. If he wasn’t going to attack, he would kill Nikaido, he would kill the one person he tried to protect so desperately.

“STOP IT!” Fujigaya’s body acted faster than his mind could catch up with it. He had opened a huge crack towards them, so that Kawai had to jump away and it stopped perfectly in front of Nikaido. But before Kawai could even find balance again Fujigaya slid on the wind making Kawai stumble backwards as he stopped in front of him shooting a sharp wind gust at him, cutting his cheek.

“So much to your bad power control.” Kawai said astonished, but Fujigaya seemed to not even listen as he formed a fire ball in his hand. Fujigaya lunged out with it, but the fire dissolved in front of Kawai’s face, as stopped his punch, before he fell to his knees.

“Gaya!” Nikaido rushed over to catch him before he fell to the side unconsciously.

“That was a huge amount of power.” Kawai said impressed.

“And the first time I saw him control it so good! He could have killed you, if he had a little bit more stamina!” Kame said smiling, helping him up.

Nikaido wanted to scold them for their harsh training plan, but then his look fell on Junno who came running towards them.

“We have a problem.” He started, breathing hard.

“What is it?” Kame asked worried.

“I just felt Ueda’s powers.”

“And?”

“They are getting weaker pretty fast!”

Nikaido’s eyes widened as he realized what that meant. Ueda and his little brother were on patrol together. If something happened to Ueda, his brother wouldn’t be safe either.

When Massu came running with Nakamaru it was to Nikaido’s surprise Kame who took action first.

“Nakamaru, take care of Fujigaya! Massu, tell the others that there might be an attack, so be ready, but don’t panic! Ueda seems hurt not dead, so we still don’t know what’s going on!”

He turned to leave to the patrol direction when he turned around again.

“Nikaido are you coming?”

Nikaido stared at him for a moment. He had just stared at the forest the whole time not moving. He nodded, getting up and leaving Fujigaya to Nakamaru, but he wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea for him to go with Kame and Kawai. Junno said nothing about Kentaro so he seemed fine until now, but who knew for how long. So for now all Nikaido could do was start running!


	30. Would I give my life for you?

 

“You want to ignore me the whole time?” Ueda asked walking behind Kentaro for almost half an hour without talking.

“I am not ignoring you, I am concentrating!”

“You don’t have to, my sensing powers are way better than yours. Just relax and charge your powers for a time when you really need them.”

Kentaro didn’t answer. He just walked alongside the border wanting to end the patrol as soon as possible. He couldn’t believe that they had let him go on patrol with Ueda. It was a dangerous time and sure Ueda was strong, but couldn’t they have sent at least one other person with them, then Kentaro wouldn’t feel so uneasy.

But Kentaro was ripped out of his thoughts abruptly when a sharp wind hit him and Ueda appeared right in front of him slamming his hand against the tree next to Kentaro’s face, blocking his way.

Kentaro wanted to scold him for scaring him like that, but when he lifted his head and he met his look, he shut his mouth again. Ueda seemed angry and Kentaro knew that he was the reason for it.

“Kentaro, don’t ignore me!”

Kentaro looked to the ground again, but Ueda lifted his head up, putting his hand under his chin.

“I’m not trying to force my feelings on you, but I want a clear answer. I would say I deserve at least that, even when the answer is no.”

“It’s not!” Kentaro had spoken up before he even realized what he had said. “I just mean, it’s not- I can’t easily decide like that…it’s complicated…“He struggled for words, but Ueda just smiled as he saw him blush.

“We should get going or everyone will worry when we are not back soon,” Kentaro said and tried to turn away, but Ueda wouldn’t let go of him so easily. He turned his head back and put his other hand from the tree to the younger one’s hair forcing his head upwards carefully, but determined.

Kentaro started struggling as Ueda leaned forward, obviously trying to kiss him again.

“Please not now!” Kentaro put his hand against his chest to hold him away, but he knew that the other one was way stronger.

“Then just give me a clear answer, you let me wait long enough, don’t you think?” He waited a moment, but Kentaro looked away again still too confused about his own emotions. Ueda took his distraction to put his lips on his. Kentaro froze for a moment his eyes going wide. He clenched his hands in Ueda’s jacket and tried to push him away, but at the same time he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to.

Ueda backed off quite fast, looking at Kentaro for a short moment. But when he leant forward again when he didn’t react, Kentaro pushed him away this time. He wasn’t sure himself why he did it, but all of this was just too confusing for him. He was afraid that he couldn’t trust his own feelings.

“Kentaro, wait!” After he had pushed Ueda away he dashed away from him through the forest. He just wanted some space and time to think, but when there was a clicking sound as his legs hit something like a rope. He stopped and scanned his surroundings, but before he even realized what happened Ueda had rushed forward, throwing them both to the ground. He tried to lift a stone wall around them, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Kentaro had run directly into a trap of the Realitists. The rope he had ran into was connected to two bombs hidden on the ground. Kentaro shut his eyes as they went off, just before he hit the ground way too hard with Ueda on top of him.

Kentaro opened his eyes again after he took a few deep breathes. The explosion wasn’t too big and even though Ueda couldn’t lift the walls really high, they weren’t hurt too bad. Kentaro didn’t even get a scratch. It was just his head hurting from the impact on the ground.

“Ueda, are you okay?” He asked worried as he saw how a few small parts of the metal were stuck in his upper arm and back, but the latter just ripped them out. The cuts didn’t seem too deep.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. How about you?”

“I’m okay, I guess. I’m sorry. You got hurt because of me.”

“Don’t worry it’s nothing! Just remember to concentrate more when we are on patrol. Sorry for confusing you before, I should know better than distract you when we are in a dangerous place like this.”

Ueda stood up again and stretched his arm out to Kentaro to help him up.

“No it’s not your fault. You are right, I should stop running away,” Kentaro spoke facing the ground for a moment, but when there was no reaction from Ueda he looked up at him. He looked kind of distracted like he wouldn’t even listen. “Ueda? What is wro-“

Before he could end his sentence Ueda collapsed. Kentaro reacted immediately, stopping his fall with a few smooth plants.

“Ueda?” Kentaro kneeled down next to him with a worried look. Ueda was conscious, but he looked totally confused as if he couldn’t explain the reaction of his own body.

“Sorry, Kentaro. I don’t know what’s wrong.” He tried to get up again, but he couldn’t lift his own body up anymore. While his breathing pace turned kind of erratic his body started shaking.

“You are scaring me. What is going on?” Kentaro tried not to panic and kept his voice steady, but seeing Ueda like that wasn’t making it easy to do so.

“It must be because of the bomb,” Ueda said, his voice already getting weaker. Kentaro needed a moment to realize what he meant.

“Poison?” He asked, his voice now breaking. Now he was really angry that Kame allowed them to go alone, with another person they could have sent someone back while the other one would stay with Ueda.

“Maybe. But don’t worry, it will be okay…I hope.”

“But we have to get you back to the village, you need help!”

“Don’t worry, I sent some kind of signal to Junno, they will come and get us.” He tried to form a smile, but his pain was more than visible by now. His forehead was already sweaty and he clenched his fists trying to keep a straight face.

“But what if they take too long and-“

Both of them looked up at the same direction at the same moment.

“Shit, bad timing!” Ueda growled as they both sensed someone approaching from the city.

“We have to hide somewhere. Can you stand up?” Kentaro tried to help him as much as possible putting his arm around his neck, but he wasn’t much of a help being smaller than him.

“They are approaching fast, we have to hurry,” Ueda said worried looking out for a hideout.

“Ueda!” Kentaro couldn’t hold him up when he fell to his knees again after a few steps.

“Kentaro, you have to hide by yourself. We won’t make it in time like that.”

“As if I would leave you here!”

Kentaro tried to lift him up again, but Ueda pushed him away. “I said hide!” He yelled at him, but Kentaro didn’t want to. He looked around and when his look fell on a rock formation near the cliffs a few meters away from him, he knew this was their only chance.

“Kentaro, they are almost here, go!”

But instead of hiding on his own he concentrated for a moment, he knew he had just one try.

“Woah, what the hell?” Ueda almost squealed when the plants underneath him moved towards the rocks and put him to the ground carefully.

Kentaro rushed over to him after he was sure that he had put him down carefully. He stopped right in front of him, swirling around and stomping his foot to the ground. With a wide movement of his arms the ground around them started shaking and a huge rock formation cracked out of the ground covering them completely.

“How did you do that?” Ueda asked impressed, but Kentaro put a finger on his own lips signaling him to talk in a lower voice. Ueda knew of everyone’s power control in the village by now, but it was the first time he had seen Kentaro using his powers so concentrated. Moving a few small objects was already taking away a lot of energy normally, but after that rock formation he had just formed he should normally collapse. Even the older ones like Tegoshi, Kame and the others wouldn’t be able to form more than one of such a huge formation.

“Like this we will be a part of the rock formation, not visible to them, but they will still be able to hear us,” Kentaro said, breathing hard almost collapsing to the ground next to Ueda. It was the first time for him to use so much power at once and he was more than relieved that it worked out, because he had no idea what he was doing.

They stayed silent at they heard two people speaking. They found the trap and obviously searched around the area for the one who had stepped into it, knowing that with the poison the person couldn’t have gone too far.

Kentaro jolted when Ueda grabbed his arm forcefully from one moment to the other. When he turned to face him his heart dropped to his feet as he saw how bad Ueda was looking. He was all sweaty and pale, his breathing weak and his face still twisted in pain.

“Just a little bit longer! They will be here soon!” Kentaro encouraged him in a low voice, kneeling down beside him and pulling him into a hug. He had never seen him this fragile. He totally forgot that even though Ueda was so strong he could also feel pain. Ueda grabbed the back of Kentaro’s jacket, trying to suppress any painful sounds, but it wasn’t that easy. The poison was strong and they had been on patrol for a few hours already, so the others would need some time to find them.

“Do you think it attacks your powers as well?”

“I am not sure, but my body is too weak to use them anyways. The healing powers might be hopefully strong enough to stop my body from dying, but at the moment it feels like the poison is stronger than my powers.” He said honestly, but alone the word dying had made Kentaro freeze for a moment.

Kentaro pulled back a little bit to be able to look into his eyes. He remembered the moment when Kawai had asked them if they would give their lives for the people around them and he couldn’t answer this question back then. But now he knew that it was not just his older brother he would give his life for, but also Ueda.

Without thinking about it again he took Ueda’s face in his hands and kissed him. Even though Ueda wanted to struggle, knowing that Kentaro hadn’t enough power left to transfer them to him without getting hurt himself, he was already too weak to push him away.

“Stupid boy,” He scolded him after he backed off. Kentaro just smiled at him before he collapsed. Ueda could feel how Kentaro’s powers were at least supporting his own enough so that he was sure that the poison wouldn’t kill him for now. But the battle was still not won and he pulled Kentaro closer, keeping him close in his arms. “You are so reckless.”

Minutes passed tormenting slow and Ueda couldn’t tell when they turned into hours as his condition got worse with the time passing. When he felt someone’s presence he focused on the outside again. The Realitists seemed to have moved on, but their presence was replaced by three others. Then the rock formation over them was pulled away and Ueda got blinded by the sunlight for a moment before he recognized them.

“Thanks god that we found you finally! What happened?” Kame kneeled down next to him, while Nikaido rushed forward and almost ripped Kentaro out of Ueda’s grip as he realized that he was unconscious. Kawai tried to calm him down, knowing that he would be alright after a good rest.

“Too much to talk about now,” Ueda said with a weak smile, making Kame relax a little bit. He knew that when Ueda was already making jokes again he would be fine eventually.

But Ueda’s body felt already too exhausted and his powers were too busy with fixing his blood circulation to keep him awake anymore. So after he looked over to Kentaro once more, who was lifted up in his brother’s arms he allowed himself to close his eyes, knowing that everything would be fine.

 


	31. Dreams

Fujigaya woke up not sure for a moment where he was, when he sat up everything started spinning in front of his eyes.

“Taisuke, are you okay?” Wataru walked inside of the room, which was as Fujigaya realized one of the resting rooms in Miyata’s house and then he remembered what had happen.

“Where is Nika? Is he alright?” Fujigaya was already about to stand up, but Wataru stopped him putting his hands on his shoulders.

“Everything is alright, at least with Nika.”

“What do you mean?”

He got his answer when he heard someone screaming from one of the other rooms. He didn’t even ask Wataru what was going on, he stood up and Wataru stabilized him a little bit on the waist as he almost stumbled making the first step. He had really used a lot of power before.

As they walked over to another room Fujigaya saw Kame, Junno, Nakamaru and Miyata running around shouting at each other to bring different things and Ueda lying on the bed his face twisted in pain while he grabbed the sheets trying to suppress another scream.

“What kind of poison is this?” Nakamaru asked after giving Ueda an injection, obviously not the first one judging on Ueda’s arm.

“I’m really not sure. It’s nothing I’ve a fixed antidote against.” Miyata said worried as he was putting different ingredients together. “Is the one I gave you showing any effect?”

Nakamaru put his hand on Ueda’s forehead closing his eyes. He didn’t just feel for a fever, but transferred his powers to feel if the poison was resolving in his body. But he shook his head when he took his hand away.

“Miyata, please try another one.” Kame begged, putting a wet towel on Ueda’s forehead with a worried look at his friend.

Fujigaya didn’t speak up, after all he couldn’t help at the moment. But then he turned to Wataru with wide eyes.

“Where is Kentaro?”

“Don’t worry, he is fine or more he will be fine again. He transferred a lot of his powers to Ueda to save him.”

“So transferring powers can help him?”

“Unfortunately not, we already tried that, it had helped Ueda to not faint right away, but it won't help to get rid of the poison,” Junno shouted over from the other side of the room.

“But Kentaro didn’t know and I guess he just tried what he could to help him,” Wataru explained.

“Where is he?”

“I will bring you over to him.” Wataru walked in front of him showing him the way, after Fujigaya had signaled him that he could walk on his own.

They walked up the stars to the second floor entering another resting room. Fujigaya’s eyes first fell on Nikaido who was standing next to the bed with a worried expression. Then he saw Kentaro lying on the bed with a calm face, so at least he wasn’t in pain. But when he followed the hand which was lying on Kentaro’s blank shoulder, he had to take a deep breath to not snap.

“Kawai, how is he?” Wataru asked walking over to him.

“He will be fine by tomorrow I think. I transferred some of my powers to help him regenerate faster, but he will need to rest.” He took his hand away and faced Nikaido. “Don’t worry, he is really strong. Someone else would have maybe died trying to transfer so much power after using a lot of it before, but it seems Kentaro might be stronger than most of us thought.”

He had proven so already when they had captured Fujigaya and his brother in the city. He didn’t even know himself that he could use so much power and of all with so much control. But he did the same with Ueda.

“His control seems to be better when he is in dangerous situations in which he has to decide quickly. We should try to train those powers more,” Kawai said with this kind of expression which made Fujigaya snap.

“So what do you want to do? Push his brother down a cliff, so he has to react? Or torture him with your powers, like Ryosuke did to him before?” Fujigaya hissed at him.

“Gaya, please calm down!” Nikaido was the one walking over to him, but Fujigaya wouldn’t let it just pass like this.

“So you were fine with him torturing you? You think he won’t do the same with your brother if he gets to teach him?”

“No I was not fine with it!” Nikaido said in a serious tone turning to Kawai and Wataru with an angry glare, but turned back to Fujigaya without saying anything to them. “But he saved Kentaro, so let’s drop this topic for now, okay?”

Fujigaya flicked his tongue looking annoyed from him to Kawai. “Do as you please.” He said before turning for the door, before turning around again facing Kawai.

“But I swear if you touch my friends or family ever again I will kill you!” Fujigaya said so serious that a shiver went down Nikaido’s back.

“Mh, that sounds interesting!” Kawai said with a smile after Fujigaya had left the room. Nikaido gave him another angry glare on that statement before looking at Wataru.

“Can I leave Kentaro to you for a moment?”

“Sure, go!” Wataru knew that Nikaido really needed to speak to Fujigaya alone for a moment, so of course he would take a look at his younger brother for him.

“What are you up to?” Wataru asked Kawai, when Nikaido had also left the room.

“What do you mean?” Kawai asked still smiling.

“I know this look, you are up to something and I am not sure I like it.”

“Trust me, this one will be awesome!” He said with a small chuckle before sitting down next to Kentaro’s bed again, transferring a little bit more of his powers to help him with his healing.

***

“Gaya, wait!” Nikaido was running after him, he had reached him as he was about to enter his house.

“What do you want?” He asked annoyed, not even turning around to him.

“I want to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“About what Kawai said before.”

“What do you mean?”

“Gaya, come on, are you going to play stupid again?”

Fujigaya knew exactly what he meant, but he didn’t want to answer. Instead he opened the door and held it open for Nikaido.

“Come in, let’s talk inside.”

Taiga and the rest had stopped with the training for today guarding the borders at the forest, since no one had seen where the Realitists from before had left to.

“So it is like he said, right?” Nikaido started when they sat down at the table facing each other. But Fujigaya didn’t look at him.

“Gaya!”

“Yes.” He finally said with a long sigh. “Even when I can get good control over those powers that doesn’t guarantee that you won’t get hurt, when I transfer them to you. We can’t train that, you know!”

“Yes I know and I am worried as well. But we have to take the risk.”

“For what? For Kame’s plan to invade the city? We can handle that even without me transferring my powers to you. We have enough good Phenomenists.”

“Gaya you know as good as me, that we will need everyone for an attack like that. Just imagine if we really succeed. This civil war would be finally over. But if it failed because of us I would never forgive myself. I could finally give my brother the safe life I have promised him for so long.” His voice got lower with the last words. He faced his hands which he had clenched on the table.

He looked up at Fujigaya the moment he had put his hands over his. His expression had changed. It still showed worry and uncertainty, but something in his eyes showed hope, the same hope Nikaido had.

“It would be like a dream if we could end this dark period of our lives, right?” He said with a brief smile. Of course he wanted all this to be over as well. He already lost one of his brothers through the Realitists and he was always in worry about his little brother as well.

Fujigaya lifted his hand to Nikaido’s face, stroking over his cheek with his thumb. Nikaido hadn’t even realized that he had started crying. He chuckled, a little bit embarrassed by his sudden break out of emotions.

Fujigaya stood up and walked over to him. He took his face in his hands and kissed away his tears. When he backed off he smiled at Nikaido for a brief moment before he leant in to kiss him on the lips this time.

He wanted to back off again to not strain Nikaido too much after everything that happened that day already, but when he tried to retreat the younger one put his hand on the back of his head, holding him close. This time he crossed the distance first, standing up and pushing Fujigaya back at the wall while kissing him deep and lustful.

Fujigaya slipped his hand under Nikaido’s shirt without hesitation, making him moan into the kiss. They broke apart to get rid of their shirts before Fujigaya tried to take the lead, pushing Nikaido through the room with a teasing smile until Nikaido hit the bed with his legs and let himself drop on it. Fujigaya stripped out his pants slowly, making Nikaido bite his underlip while his eyes followed every inch of skin Fujigaya revealed to him. They could really call this a sudden change of plans, but there was no way they would postpone this. After all they actually needed some time for themselves.

“Satisfied with what you see?” Fujigaya asked, posing in front of him.

“Mh, not sure. I might need to touch you to be sure,” Nikaido answered teasing.

Fujigaya chuckled and rolled his eyes at him, but then he pushed Nikaido on the bed, sitting on top of him.

“Then go on!” The older one challenged with a lopsided smile and Nikaido didn’t even hesitate a second before his hands explored his body. Fujigaya let out a small moan when Fujigaya stroke down over his stomach down to his crotch.

Nikaido put his other hand into Fujigaya’s hair pulling him down for another kiss. He licked over his under lip and Fujigaya willingly opened his mouth to deepen the kiss. He stroked his hand over Nikaido’s blank chest until he reached his pants, pulling on the seam to signal Nikaido to get them out of the way. They broke the kiss shortly and when Nikaido got rid of the last piece of fabric in their way, they stared at each other for a moment, breathing against each other’s lips which were just a few centimeters apart, hungrily waiting for another kiss.

“I love you!” It was long ago that Fujigaya said it directly like this, but he felt kind of happy that he finally had said it again. He realized that exactly because he loved him so much, he had to trust him and also his own ability to control his powers.

Nikaido wanted to reply something, but when he breathed in, Fujigaya’s lips were already on his again. Fujigaya knew already what he wanted to say, but he didn’t need to hear it. For tonight he wanted to just feel him.

It would be the first time that he wouldn’t be all tense when Nikaido was touching him, afraid that he could hurt him. The first time that he could finally let his pleasure and not his fear take the lead for the night, because he finally understood that his love for Nikaido shouldn’t be the reason for him to be afraid of his own powers, but the reason to learn how to control them so he could share them with him.


	32. Go with the flow

Kentaro blinked a few times when he finally woke up. He could recall right away what had happened. He set up a little bit too fast, blinking the stars in front of his eyes away and put his fingers slowly on his lips. Then his look fell on Taiga who was sitting next to his bed, resting his upper body on his bed, obviously asleep.

“Taiga?” Kentaro shook him carefully on the shoulders.

“Oh you are awake, great.” Taiga smiled at him and he knew right away that Ueda must be still alive. Taiga wasn’t good in hiding bad news.

“Is Ueda okay?”

“He will be, eventually. They needed the whole night to find an antidote for the poison, but now he is resting. He will be fine in a few days Miyata said.”

“That’s good news,” Kentaro said with a smile, but he also felt guilty.

“Kentaro, what’s wrong, you look troubled.” Taiga titled his head, looking at him questioning.

“Oh it’s nothing, don’t worry.”

“Mhh.” Taiga nodded, but didn’t believe him. But he would let the topic drop for now. If Kentaro needed someone to talk to, he would be there for him.

“By the way, why are you here?” Kentaro asked after a moment.

“Oh, you see, I thought it would be the best when someone is here when you wake up.”

“And where is my brother?”

“Ehm…that is the second reason why I am here,” Taiga explained with a smirk, making Kentaro raise an eyebrow at him.

“You see I was just about to go home after we switched shifts for the border control, but let’s say that I had a foreboding and when I peeked inside the house I saw way more than I ever wanted to see.”

Kentaro burst out laughing on Taiga’s blushing face and clapped him on the shoulder comforting.

“Trust me I would have gone somewhere else to sleep as well.”

He stood up carefully still feeling a little bit dizzy. He told Taiga to rest a little bit more, because sleeping in a sitting position isn’t really the best way to relax.

“Just take a nap for now, the 5 star fighters are going to give some more training lessons later, right? You should be more awake for that. I will just go and check on Ueda and take a look if my brother already returned home.”

Taiga just nodded at him with a brief smile before he rolled himself thankfully into the blanket on the bed.

Kentaro stepped down the stairs to the first floor when Nakamaru came out of a room.

“Oh Kentaro, how are you feeling?”

“Thanks, I think I’m fine. How is Ueda?”

“He is sleeping at the moment, but you can check on him yourself if you want.” Nakamaru pointed to the room he just came out. “Take your time, no one will disturb you.”

Nakamaru gave him an awkward smile which made Kentaro stare after him for a moment.

When he stepped inside the room, he was more than relieved as he saw Ueda’s calm face. The last time he had looked at him his face was twisted in pain and he didn’t know if he would survive. He sat down next to the bed looking over all the injections and ingredients lying next to the bed. He didn’t even want to imagine for how long Ueda had to suffer until they finally got rid of the poison.

“I’m so sorry. That’s my entire fault.” Kentaro said in a low voice, grapping the sheets on the side of the bed so tight that his knuckles went white. A tear dropped to the ground and then another one. Now he was really happy that Nakamaru had told him that no one would disturb them. Kentaro shut his eyes and let his emotions flow over for a moment.

“If I wouldn’t have been so afraid and ashamed of my own feelings all this would not have happened. If I would have just told you that I love you, everything would be fine.”

Kentaro flinched when Ueda squeezed one of his hands suddenly. He looked up at the older one and he couldn’t even describe how happy he was about the smile Ueda showed him.

“You finally said it!” Ueda sat up, putting his free hand on Kentaro’s cheek to wipe away his tears.

Kentaro moved up his own hand in return to put it over Ueda’s, squeezing it tightly.

“Ueda, are you okay? I am so sorry, it is all-“

“Shh.” Ueda shook his head putting a finger on Kentaro’s lips. “Don’t even think about apologizing one more time or I will get mad!”

For a moment he didn’t move and when Kentaro finally nodded he took away his finger. Kentaro still held on to his other hand which was resting on his cheek. Ueda moved it a little bit more forward carefully until they were just a few inches apart.

Kentaro didn’t look away. He had finally said it. He finally admitted his own feelings, so he wouldn’t run away anymore. Ueda gave him a brief smile before leaning in for a kiss and Kentaro closed his eyes as their lips brushed over each other.

The older one wouldn’t force anything on him and he knew that. But when he tried to back off feeling that Kentaro had tensed it was the younger one who held him close, putting his hands to Ueda’s face.

For a moment he thought about saying something, but when Ueda gave him another smile he decided against it and leant in for another kiss instead.

***

“Everything alright?”

“Eh?”

“I asked if everything is alright, you look kind of absent,” Junno said in a kind of amused voice, when Kentaro was really too absent to even answer. The smaller one shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment like he really needed to get his thoughts clear again. He had just come out of Miyata’s house telling Ueda to rest a little bit more, but he could still not believe that he had just confessed to him.

“So you are sure, that everything is alright?” Junno asked again.

“Yes all good,” Kentaro finally answered, because yes, finally everything was fine.

“That’s perfect! Are you free?” Junno clapped his hands, looking hopefully at Kentaro.

“Yes, I guess I am free. Why?”

“Come with me, explanations later!” Junno clapped him on the back and pushed him forward. They went into the forest, Junno walking in front of him with a bright smile. When they came to the river Kentaro saw Hasshi waiting for them at its side.

“Brought him!” Junno announced proudly and stopped next to Hasshi who  turned around to Kentaro, which was looking from one to the other in confusion.

“What’s going on?” The boy asked.

“It’s a lesson especially for you!” Junno explained.

“Why?”

“Because I think you might be able to control what just a few Phenomenists can control,” Hasshi explained.

“And that would be?”

“Come over here and look,” Hasshi continued pointing out to the river, which was flowing fast and was deep already on the side.

Kentaro stepped between Hasshi and Junno, looking at the water.

“You mean controlling the water? Is that even possible?” Now that Kentaro thought about it, he never tried it, maybe also because Tegoshi and Massu never suggested learning in.

“It is, but not for all Phenomenists. In the north there are just two people which can do it, me included and here it seems like you are the only one who might be able to.”

“Why me?”

“To control water you need a good ability to concentrate power. Everyone has their special talent. Take Ueda, if he wouldn’t be able to keep his powers up over such a long time, he would maybe be dead by now.”

On that thought Kentaro felt guilty again, even though Ueda told him that it wasn’t his fault.

“Nakamaru, Myuto and Kento are really good healers and you are really good at concentrating your powers to attack direct and on the spot!”

“Yeah and then I collapse,” Kentaro said in a low voice.

“You collapsed before, because you formed something which needed a really huge amount of power at once AND gave your power to Ueda. Someone else would have died if he had tried to heal someone after such a use of power.”

Kentaro needed a moment to understand what he had just said. That was why Ueda tried to stop him, he knew that he could have died back then. But for him it was different, he could feel that he would be okay.

“I guess you have noticed that you can feel how much power you have left and how much you are allowed to use?”

Kentaro nodded, slowly realizing that he was right. When he saw the others fight, like Fujigaya or even Tegoshi, they collapsed just like that without any kind of warning, like they wouldn’t know themselves when their power had reached its end, but Kentaro could perfectly feel how much power he was allowed to use.

“Say Kentaro, can you swim?” Junno asked suddenly making him look up at him.

“Yes, I can. W-“

Why? was what he wanted to ask, but before he could do so Hasshi had thrown him into the water making him swallow some of it as he tried to breath in once more before he fell into the river, the stream immediately dragging him with him and keeping him underwater.

He struggled for air, he tried to reach the surface, but the stream was too strong and as he thought he would drown the water was gone and he took a panicked and deep breath, coughing hard. He needed a moment to realize what was happening. He was sitting on the ground of the river, but the water was flowing around him and then he saw Hasshi at the side of the river with stretched out arms.

“Woah, this is so cool every time I see it!” Junno shouted behind him as he finally caught up to them. Hasshi had followed Kentaro alongside the stream watching if he could somehow handle it himself, but in the end he decided it was better to take action.

“Kentaro, concentrate on my powers, can you feel how I am using them to control the water?”

As Kentaro was finally able to breath normal again he tried to do as he was told and to his surprise he really could feel how to do it.

“So you understand the theoretic part I guess?”

“I think so.”

“Okay then it is practice time,” Hasshi said and then there was this smile on his face. The whole time he had spoken in a serious tone and with a straight face. Now that he was smiling Kentaro wasn’t sure if this was a good sign. This smile didn’t seem like a ‘everything will be alright’ smile.

“Just do the same with your powers as I just did. Concentrate and you will be able to do it.”

“Wait Hasshi, you are not going to-“ Junno started, looking from Hasshi to Kentaro, but Hasshi interrupted him.

“Learning by doing.”

Before Kentaro could even argue or breath in again Hasshi let the water-walls drop again and they clashed on Kentaro with their full weight. For a moment Kentaro lost orientation and when his back hit a stone as the stream dragged him with it again he screamed in silence losing the rest of air which was in his lungs.

He waited for Hasshi to get him out again, but this time it seemed like he wouldn’t make it in time or maybe he didn’t want to. Kentaro was about to black out, but when he remembered through what hardship he had gone until now he knew that he couldn’t give up this easily. Not now, not after he had found Ueda and not now that there was the chance for them to end this civil war forever.

He concentrated his powers and tried to remember how it felt as Hasshi used them to control the water. Without losing any more time he stretched out his arms to the side and then finally there was air. He knew he wasn’t allowed to lose his focus, but it was hard to keep the walls up while trying to get the water out of his lunges and air inside.

He kneeled on the ground with his arms stretched out for a moment until he had finally filled his lunges with air again and they stopped hurting. But the moment he tried to stand up, he realized that his powers were almost at its limit. He wouldn’t make it to the side of the river in time. He remained on his knees for a moment, thinking about what to do, but then he heard fast steps at the side of the river.

“Told you, he will make it!” Hasshi said with a lopsided smile and a proud expression.

Junno didn’t lose time to rush over to him through the dried river part, but the moment he had reached him Kentaro was out of power and the walls were about to crumble.

“Hasshi!” Junno lifted Kentaro up and just before the water clashed on them Hasshi had restored the walls, making it possible for both of them to reach the side.

“So you can do it, great!” Hasshi said proudly, clapping Kentaro on the shoulder. Kentaro wanted Junno to let him down, but he held on to him.

“You know yourself that you can’t walk right now.”

“I know I don’t want to. I just want to punch him!” Kentaro said in an angry voice. He was normally the calm type and it took much to make him angry, but trying to kill him was enough to do so.

“I like that spirit!” Hasshi said with a smile. “Keep it for the next lesson.”

“Next lesson?” Kentaro asked almost yelling, but when Hasshi just smiled at him before turning around he just shook his head. He wondered how long it would take for those 5 star fighters to kill everyone in the village through their training.


	33. Time

 

“So then let’s start.”

“Wait, what? Just like this? Is there no special kind of preparation?” Fujigaya asked a little bit panicked after Kawai had just stretched his hand out towards him so that he could transfer his powers on him.

Nikaido and Fujigaya had finally agreed to the power transfer training between them, but Kame and Kawai wouldn’t let them just do it like this. Kawai was a master of power transferring so Fujigaya had to try it out with him first and even though he wouldn’t feel sorry for killing him with his powers by accident, he still hesitated when Kawai just wanted him to transfer his powers.

“If you want some preparations, go ahead.”

“So what do I do?”

“I don’t know. Maybe stretching?”

“Are you making fun out of me?”

“No I would never do that.” But of course the smile on Kawai’s face told Fujigaya that he shouldn’t have asked from the beginning. So after flicking his tongue angry at him he just put his hand into his palm, squeezing it maybe a little bit too hard, but he deserved it.

“This is on your own risk!” Fujigaya reminded him again, looking over to Kame and Nikaido with a worried glance, before addressing Kawai again, which didn’t seem at all worried.

“Stop talking or I will die out of boredom before you even did something.”

Fujigaya glared at him again narrowing his eyes, but he decided to not make another comment. He felt already way too tense to start a teasing battle now.

“Okay then here I go.” Fujigaya breathed in deep looking over to Nikaido as if he could help him right now and actually he did. He gave him a nod and his look showed him that he believed in him.

Fujigaya concentrated on his powers, both of them and tried to transfer them on Kawai, but something felt weird. He couldn’t really explain what maybe it was because of his new crytalile power that it felt different than before. He let go of Kawai’s hand and stepped back looking at him with raised eyebrows.

“And?” He asked curious as Kawai didn’t move at all just staring at his hand.

“Kawai?” Kame asked stepping closer as he still didn’t respond. Then suddenly he put his other hand around his wrist bowing forward with a short scream.

Nikaido froze, Kame rushed forward and Fujigaya tried hard to not break down, because he knew everything that would happen from now on was his fault.

But when Kame had reached out for Kawai and Fujigaya’s knees were about to give in Kawai lifted his upper body up again and started laughing.

“Just joking, sorry.”

No one said anything for a moment, when Kawai smiled brightly at them. Kame was the first one to take action hitting him on the back of his head and scolding him for his stupid behavior. Even though Fujigaya realized that he had just been fooled his knees finally gave in and Nikaido rushed over to him, holding on to his shoulders.

“Kawai, I know you like teasing, but this is really the wrong time for it.”

“I know, sorry. It’s just that I wanted it to be more interesting! It’s boring when nothing happens.”

“What do you mean with nothing happened?” Fujigaya spoke up.

“As I said nothing happened.”

“So you didn’t transfer your powers?” Nikaido asked confused.

“I did! Or at least I thought I did, it felt weird.” Fujigaya looked at his hands in confusion. There was definitely some kind of movement inside his body as he tried to transfer them.

“So what does this mean? He can’t transfer his powers anymore?” Nikaido asked in a mixture of worry and disappointment. He didn’t know himself why he felt disappointed about it. Wouldn’t it be best if he really couldn’t transfer them anymore? Then he wouldn’t feel so restless about it. Nikaido would find a way to fight without his powers, he did so before. But it still bothered him.

“Let’s try it with me!”

“What?” Fujigaya almost yelled at him as Nikaido rose to his feet stretching his hand out to him.

“Nikaido I don’t think that is a good idea! You are no Phenomenist, who knows how it will work for you.” Kame started, but Kawai cut him off.

“That is exactly why he should try it. It sounds weird, but somehow I had the feeling that my own powers were in Fujigaya’s way.”

“So you think he can transfer them on Nikaido without problems.”

“Maybe not without problems, but the chance might be higher.”

“You are kidding me, right?” Fujigaya looked from one to the other, but they all seemed fine with the idea like it would be something totally normal. That even Nikaido didn't seem scared at all made him almost freak as he stood up again and hit away Nikaido’s hand.

“Is your life really not worth more?” Fujigaya hissed at him before he even could think about what he was saying.

“What do you mean? Gaya, we said we would do this together. You also said you want to try it! Don’t you want us to fight together anymore?”

“No, that’s not the problem. But-“  but what? Fujigaya wasn’t even sure why he hesitated that much. Nothing happened to Kawai, so maybe it would be just the same with Nikaido. Maybe he couldn’t transfer his powers anymore or if he still could maybe it would be like before with Nikaido, but there was this one word in his way, which made him hesitate: maybe!

Nikaido put his hand on Fujigaya’s cheek as he was lost in his thoughts for a moment, making him look up.

“I know that you are scared, but we can do this.”

Fujigaya still didn’t seem convinced.

“If you are too afraid to give them to me, I can take them myself if you want?” Nikaido suggested already leaning forward a little bit, but Fujigaya pushed him away automatically, shaking his head.

“Okay, like this we won’t get to anything. How about we call it a day and continue tomorrow?” Kawai suggested to everyone’s surprise making them stare at him. “What?”

“It’s just that you are normally not the nice one who stops the training, because of emotional matters,” Kame said with a lopsided smile on his face.

“Hey I can also be nice! So shoo shoo you two, before I change my mind. He signaled Nikaido and Fujigaya to leave for now and they happily did.

“So you are really up to something,” Kame finally said when they were out of their hearing distance.

“What do you mean?”

“I spoke with Wataru and he already told me, that you were up to something.”

“I really don’t know what you mean,” Kawai repeated giving Kame a weird satisfied smile, which made him shiver. He knew how Kawai could be, he trained him after all. But his way of handling things was sometimes a little bit over the top.

***

Kentaro was tipping nervously with his fingers on the table. After his older brother had left for the training with Fujigaya and the others he had sneaked out of the house walking over to Ueda’s house, trying not be seen.

It had been just three days since the incident at the border occurred, but Ueda was already fine again and in the evening he had told him to go over to his house the next morning and wait there for him. So he did as he was told now sitting at the table and waited for him.

Even though Kentaro was sure that at least Nakamaru and Taiga knew about them already or at least speculated about it, he felt like he would do something forbidden.  But on the other hand, why should he? His brother was together with Fujigaya and he was free to live and love who he liked to, right?

“Hey, sorry to make you wait! Nakamaru didn’t want to let me go!”

Kentaro flinched a little bit as Ueda spoke up already inside the house. He had been so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t even hear him enter.

He grabbed a chair and put it down right in front of Kentaro with the backrest in front so that he could rest his arms on it.

“So?” He started with a bright smile making Kentaro raise an eyebrow at him.

“So, what?” Kentaro asked confused.

“Are you sure about all this?” For a moment Kentaro didn’t understand what he meant, but there was only one thing he could mean.

“I am.”

“So you love me?” His direct question made Kentaro hold his breath for a moment and Ueda’s chuckle signaled him that he had blushed. Ueda stretched out his hand stroking over his cheek and Kentaro relaxed a little bit, smiling back. He was sure of his feelings and he wouldn’t just back off now.

To Ueda’s surprise it was the younger one who leant forward to put his lips on his. For a moment Kentaro just remained like this, waiting for a reaction and Ueda smiled against his lips before putting his hand from his cheek to his hair. He carefully moved his lips against Kentaro’s trying to keep the kiss soft, knowing that it was something new for him. Kentaro relaxed fast, moving his lips gentle against Ueda’s. He had never felt so much longing for someone just by touching the other one. He put his hands around Ueda’s neck trying to pull him even closer. His movements might be a little bit messy and he was more than sure that he had blushed even more, but he didn’t care. Just as Ueda’s tongue licked over his lips suddenly he tensed a little bit again. But his longing was already too big, he was about to open his mouth wanting to deepen the kiss, when he felt a presence next to him, which made him break the kiss immediately. When he looked towards the door his eyes went wide. Ueda turned around as well, but he didn’t feel caught at all. Maybe that was also why he didn’t do anything even though he had felt his presence even before Kentaro did. Ueda flicked his tongue annoyed while getting up.

“Kame, what the hell. Ever heard of knocking before entering?” he asked sarcastic, putting his hands into his pockets while walking over to him.

First Kentaro thought it would be fine, because Nakamaru had seemed fine with it before as well. The four were together all the time when it was about training and stuff, but in private they seemed to mind their own business.

But when Kame grabbed Ueda by the collar Kentaro let out a sharp breath and jumped up worried.

“Are you kidding me?” He asked in such an angry voice, that Kentaro never had imaged he could speak in.

“What? It has nothing to do with you, right?” Ueda just shrugged his shoulders at him, getting his hands out of his pockets again to raise them up like he would try to apologize.

“No not with me, but with him!” Kame nodded towards Kentaro, but the boy didn’t even get what was going on anymore and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. Kame wasn’t supposed to be here anyways. Maybe they stopped the training earlier, but it was a really bad timing that he decided to come here.

“For how long is this already going?”

“Not from the start if you mean that.”

“So for how long?” Kame raised his voice on Ueda’s annoyed tone.

“Three days,” Ueda answered still annoyed, but Kentaro could hear that something in Ueda’s tone had changed. If it would be someone else, he would have said it was fear he could feel, but it was Ueda and he had never seen him afraid and of all things afraid of Kame. This whole picture in front of him wasn’t making any sense.

“Did you tell him?” Kame asked looking over to Kentaro again. Ueda this time turning around to him a little bit as well and Kentaro froze on his look. He saw guilt in his eyes before he turned away again.

“Ueda, I asked you something!”

“No, I didn’t.” He said in a low voice making it hard for Kentaro to catch his words.

“Then how about you tell him now? Or shall I tell him?” Kame turned to Kentaro again, but before he could open his mouth again Ueda had grabbed him by the collar as well making him look back.

“It’s still not necessary for him to know. Just leave it like this for now, okay?”

Kame chuckled and shook his head facing the ground for a moment. He let go of Ueda and as the latter did the same he thought it would be alright, when Kame suddenly lunged out for a punch.

 


	34. Secret burden

 

 

Nikaido and Fujigaya had walked over to Nikaido’s house after the training, sitting at the table in silence for a moment before Nikaido let out a long sigh.

“What?” Fujigaya asked annoyed rolling his eyes at him.

“You know exactly what I am annoyed about, so don’t play dumb!”

Now it was Fujigaya who sighed before dropping his head on the table. To his surprise Nikaido chuckled at his behavior and after a moment he started playing with the older ones hair.

“I am sorry.” Fujigaya finally replied having his eyes closed while relaxing under Nikaido’s careful touch.

“You should be.” Nikaido scolded him making him growl. But Nikaido just chuckled again and leaned down to his ear. “But for today let’s forget about it, okay?”

Fujigaya chuckled as Nikaido bit in his earlobe signaling him that this conversation was over for today. Nikaido used his hands to make Fujigaya lift his head up and kissed his way down from his hair to his cheek until he had reached his lips.

It didn’t take long for Fujigaya to break the kiss just to move around the table to sit down on Nikaido’s lap.

“Better?” Nikaido asked with a smirk as Fujigaya stroke over his cheek.

“Way better!”

Slowly he moved his hands to the younger ones hair to pull up his head a little bit and lure him into another long and passionate kiss.

Nikaido slipped his hands under Fujigaya’s shirt making him shiver. Fujigaya was about to move one hand down to Nikaido’s shirt to open it as they broke the kiss looking at each other in confusion.

“Do you hear the same as me?” Fujigaya asked.

“If you mean angry shouting, then yes.”

For a moment they thought about ignoring it, but the shouting got louder and so they decided to postpone their intimate moment.

“Don’t forget where we were.” Fujigaya said teasing while opening the door.

As they walked around a few buildings the voices were getting louder and then finally they found out what was going on. Wataru and Senga were already there, Junno and Hasshi were coming from the training ground towards them as well. Everyone gathered around Kame and Ueda which were shouting at each other in front of Ueda’s house, which was next to a small cannel for watering the rice fields.

Nikaido was more than confused as he saw Kentaro standing in Ueda’s entrance door looking down at the two kind of scared. When his look fell on Ueda he saw a light bruise on his cheek.

“Cut it out, Kame! This has nothing to do with you.” Ueda yelled at him giving him such an evil glare that Nikaido wondered how it was possible that his powers didn’t rip anything around them apart already.

“This is nothing you can just decide like this. He has a right to know! You know how dangerous it is!” Kame yelled back pointing at Kentaro. As Nikaido realized that Kentaro seemed to be a part of this fight he wanted to interfere, but a hand on his shoulder held him back.

“Tegoshi?”

“Trust me you don’t want to interfere!”

“What, why? What is going on?” Nikaido asked worried.

“I am not sure yet, but we will know in a few moments. But trust me when those two are fighting, no one wants to get in their way.”

“If they destroy any building I make them repair it themselves, this is not the training ground!” Wataru added to their conversation walking over to them with Senga at his side.

“I don’t think the will use their powers, don’t worry.” Tegoshi calmed him down.

“They are screaming at each other, how are the supposed to keep their powers down?” Fujigaya asked sceptic.

“Trust me, they can.”

“How?”

“Because even when they fight, they are still friends.”

Nikaido followed their conversation just with one ear, not getting all of it. He was still fixed on Kentaro, which was frozen to the spot. Nikaido didn’t get what had happened, but seeing his little brother so scared made it hard not to interfere.

“Just leave me alone, I can handle this on my own!” Ueda was about to turn away from Kame obviously about to enter his house again, when Kame pulled him back on his wrist.

Nikaido hold his breath when Ueda punched Kame suddenly as he turned around. He had hit him so hard that Kame fell to the ground.

“Ueda, don’t be stupid! You really want to risk his life?” As soon as Kame was back on his feet he tried to hold Ueda back again.

Ueda shared a brief look with Kentaro and as he saw his wide eyes on Kame’s statement he lost it. He screamed out and tried to lunge out for another punch, but this time Kame dodged it.

“I told you I can handle this myself, stop talking!”

Ueda was furious. He punched and kicked Kame, who was dodging most of the attacks, but not all of them.

Nikaido noticed that Tegoshi had tensed next to him and soon he realized why. He had fought against Kame so often and couldn’t even hit him once. Watching those two fight and seeing how it was possible for Ueda to hit Kame while he himself couldn’t do it, must be kind of hurting. Nikaido realized again how awesome those four were.

And also their fight seemed pretty serious Junno and Hasshi remained at the side totally calm.

“Ueda, calm down!” Finally Kame had gotten a grip on Ueda forcing him on his knees while keeping him down with one arm on his back. As he tried to struggle again Kame pushed him down with more force so that he screamed out.

“Let him go!” It was Kentaro who interfered finally, but before he even made it near them Ueda had used Kame’s distraction and freed himself with a harsh kick.

“Kame is this really necessary?” Now it was Nikaido who interfered as well. His younger brother’s shaking voice made it impossible to stay silent anymore. “Whatever it is, can’t you just normally talk about it?”

“Nikaido trust me, this is what I wanted to do, but Ueda is not listening.”

“No what you wanted to do is telling me to run away from everything, again.”

Ueda was walking towards Kame, but when a crack appeared between them they both stepped back.

“Maybe Nikaido is right, don’t you think so Kame?” Junno was the one using his powers to stop them, Hasshi still standing next to him unimpressed.

“Junno, what the hell? You know exactly what this is about and I won’t let it happen again!” Kame yelled over to him.

“But maybe it won’t. We don’t know, it just happened once and it wasn’t like I could knew.” Ueda added growling.

“Ueda this is nothing to just try.”

“Would you all stop it and tell us what is going on?” Nikaido and Fujigaya flinched when Tegoshi yelled at them, pointing his finger from Ueda to Kame. “It’s really annoying to watch this without knowing the reason.”

“He is right, just explain it to us, maybe we can help.” Nikaido added in a normal tone. But when Kame let out a chuckle Nikaido had to try hard to not explode. “Did I say something funny?”

“You have no clue about what is going on, what makes you think you can help?”

“Because my little brother is obviously involved in this, so I want to know what is going on!”

Kame stared at everyone and it seemed like there was no way to keep this a secret between the four anymore.

“Okay fine! If you want to know I will tell you!”

“Who said I will let you?” Ueda seemed more than angry at Kame’s decision, but Kame just shrugged his shoulders.

“Don’t you think it is better when everyone knows?”

“No it’s not and when you want to tell them take them somewhere else!”

“So that you can still keep it a secret from Kentaro, which is the one who needs to know the most?”

“Kentaro, if he doesn’t want to tell you, I will-“

“Shut up!”

Everyone held their breath as Ueda leaped forward forming a fireball in his hand, while Kame turned to speak to Kentaro directly.

“Watch out!” Fujigaya shouted out for Kame and lucky he could dodge Ueda’s attack in time. Ueda was attacking seriously, an attack like this could have killed him.

“So much to me saying they wouldn’t use their powers!” Tegoshi said a little bit worried.

Ueda’s power was lasting long Kame knew that, so he dodged his fire blasts as much as possible trying to not use too much power himself until Ueda would get tired. He was so furious that it wouldn’t take long this time until he would be out of power.

“Ueda, you know this is not making sense. Just stop!” Kame begged while jumping away from a crack under his feet and then floating on the air around Ueda as he tried to lung out with a burning fist at him.

“Shut up, it’s your own fault.” Ueda wanted to rush after him, but when he made a step forward he found himself on his knees.

“Told you!”

Kame wanted to approach him, but Ueda rose to his feet again to everyone’s surprise. Fire was his strongest weapon, but also the one power which was destroying the DNA the fastest if used too careless.

“No, Ueda stop!” It was Kentaro who realized first that Ueda was about to go over his limits. Whatever it was he kept secret from Kentaro, it seemed such a big burden to him that he was willing to risk his life to stop Kame from telling him. But he had seen how Fuma died after a fire attack, because he had healed Kento after it and Ueda had used already three times of the amount someone else would be able to create. He was strong, but not immortal and Kentaro wouldn’t let him die just like this.

“Senga! Wataru! Get Nakamaru and Miyata here as fast as possible, we will need them!” Tegoshi shouted at them before he turned back towards Kame and Ueda ready to interfere. Junno and Hasshi had rushed forward as well. Just Nikaido and Fujigaya remained on their spot knowing that they wouldn’t be much of a help at the moment. Fujigaya thought about trapping Ueda, but it would be no help, because Ueda would just freak out inside the cell and kill himself.

“Out of my way!” Ueda screamed at Tegoshi who was blocking his way to Kame. Kentaro was standing behind him not sure about what to do, when Ueda attacked Tegoshi without warning. Tegoshi was able to redirect the fire blast, but when his sight was clear again Ueda was standing right in front of him already and the punch he got in his stomach made him gasp and fall to his knees.

“UEDA, STOP IT!” Kame shouted and wanted to help Tegoshi, but Hasshi blocked his way.

“Let me talk to him!” Junno said signaling Kame to stay back. Ueda wouldn’t calm down, when Kame came closer again.

“Junno, out of my way!” Ueda yelled at him and seeing those two, everyone would have bet on Ueda, it seemed that even Junno wasn’t sure himself what to do. The fact that he just won so easily against Tegoshi made clear that he wouldn’t get stopped by anyone.

Ueda lost balance for a moment through his exhaustion and Junno made a step forward as if he wanted to catch him even though he was still too far away.

“Ueda, come on stop it! You will die if you continue like this!”

“Shut up! I won’t let Kame destroy our relationship!” Ueda said while setting his fists on fire again. He was breathing hard and he had turned completely pale. Kentaro couldn’t watch this any longer and then his look fell on the small cannel next to Ueda’s house. It was now or never and Kentaro knew that. He had had just one real lesson with Hasshi, but Hasshi was busy holding Kame back, so he was on his own.

Kentaro shut his eyes and the moment Ueda was about to attack Junno to get to Kame, Kentaro concentrated all his powers on the water and with a wide movement of his arms he lifted the water out of the cannel.

“WOULD YOU ALREADY CUT IT OUT?” He yelled at Ueda as he lifted him off his feet in full surprise with a huge jet of water. Ueda slammed into the ground a few meters away from everyone, gasping on the impact. But he had no time to get back on his feet as Kentaro walked over to him fast, ignoring all the eyes on him.

“I hope this cooled you down a little bit! If you want what we have not to get destroyed then you should maybe start talking to me and not start fighting with your friends and kill yourself in the progress, because then there would be nothing to destroy any more anyways.”

With that Kentaro turned on his heels and left the scene without another word. Nikaido stared after his little brother with an open mouth. He was way too confused about what just had happened to make any sense out of it, but he knew that he had to at least try. And there was one statement from Ueda which actually made it quite easy to guess what was going on, but the question was how he should deal with that new information?

“Gaya, would you excuse me for a moment?” Nikaido asked the moment Miyata and Nakamaru came running to help Tegoshi and Ueda.

“Sure, go. He will need you now. I will talk to Kame!” Fujigaya replied with a brief smile before rushing over to Kame, trying to help Hasshi to make him leave before Ueda could freak again.

 

 


	35. Ambush

 

„Hey, are you alright? “ Nikaido sat down opposite of his little brother which carried a gloomy expression. Kentaro had run back to their house after Ueda had freaked out like that and had almost killed himself about something he didn’t understand. He was looking down at the table with his hands buried in his hair.

Nikaido didn’t ask again, he just waited patiently. He still didn’t know what was going on, but as he heard the word “relationship” out of Ueda’s mouth he was even more confused than before. But for now he would put his own worries and questions aside.

“Nii-san?” Kentaro finally asked in a low voice.

“Yes?”

“I should be angry at him, right?”

“You mean at Ueda?”

“Yes, he freaked out like that, because of something Kame said. Something I didn’t understand and which he didn’t want to tell me. How can he freak out like that and talk about protecting me, when he is not even talking to me?” Kentaro’s voice got lower with every word and Nikaido could hear how he tried to suppress his sobs as he took a deep breath.

“He almost killed himself over something he didn’t want to tell me and yes I have screamed at him and feel angry, but there is this other, awful feeling inside of me!”

Kentaro put his hands down on the table to stop them from shaking, but they just wouldn’t listen to him and he let out a long sigh.

“It hurts, Nii-san. It hurt before when I saw how he fought, when he almost killed himself and when he refused to talk or listen to me and it fucking still hurts and I want it to stop!”

Nikaido grabbed his hands as Kentaro’s voice finally broke completely and the first tear dropped on the table. At least Nikaido understood more of what was going on now, even though he had to smile at himself a little bit for not seeing it earlier, but maybe he had just been too busy with his and Fujigaya’s problem to see it.

“Kentaro, this is called love.”

Kentaro looked up at him in slight confusion, the tears still running down his cheeks. His older brother put his hands on his cheeks wiping the new tears away.

“When you fight with someone you normally get angry and I bet you are really angry at Ueda right now! But his behavior hurt you, right? It is because you care for him so much that you feel this pain!”

“When this is love, I don’t need it!” Kentaro said serious but Nikaido chuckled, shaking his head at his still too young and naïve brother.

“It is just a part of it, Kentaro. Love is not just pain you should have already experienced that, right?”

Kentaro looked a little bit confused, but slowly he realized what he wanted to tell him. He was right, if it hadn’t been some awesome feeling from the start, he wouldn’t care for Ueda so much now that something bad happened. Because he wanted Ueda to care for him, to be there for him and trust him he felt hurt. The fact that it hurt was showing him that he didn’t want it to be over. It showed him that he wanted to be there for Ueda as well so that he would trust him and talk to him whatever it was he was hiding.

His brother squeezed his hands and Kentaro gave him a brief smile signaling him that he would be alright.

***

Ueda was sleeping for three days in a row and Kentaro was happy about the distraction he had in Hasshi’s training. He would have enough problems to face when Ueda woke up again, but for now he wanted to focus on his training.

Fujigaya and Nikaido tried so as well, but it wasn’t easy at all. Kame was more or less not approachable for anyone since their fight, so their training was completely taken over by Kawai, what made it not better.

The training of everyone else was however proceeding very well, to everyone’s surprise. Nakamaru discovered how awesome Kento’s healing powers were or more like Fuma’s powers. But Fuma had been too outrage all the time to use his powers calmly, so now Kento could help people with them and that made him quite happy.

Senga and Massu were cursing more or less the whole day while trying to somehow win against Tsukada, but they finally got at least a few hits through the other one’s defense. Junno tried to explain Hokuto how to expand the width of his presence feeling powers, but he had looked at him with raised eyebrows for over twenty minutes before he asked him to repeat it again in a way someone could understand.  Totsu was training Aran and Kishi or more like shouting at Aran the whole day to finally learn how to use Kishi’s powers for defense, but he seemed unteachable. So in the end Totsu told Kishi to work hard on himself so he could protect him, because he would be too stupid to do it himself.

Taiga had joined Miyata, Nakamaru and Kento for some healing training, because Goseki was gone for three days already, after Kawai had asked some favor of him to get something from the north to the village. Tegoshi and Wataru were running after Kame most of the day trying to make him calm down.

“Would you concentrate?” Kawai yelled at Nikaido who was looking around the training ground at everyone. But when he woke up out of his daydreams it was already too late, Kawai had thrown a wind blast at him and it lifted him off his feet with so much force that he was flying through the air for several meters. He held his breath ready for a hard impact on the ground when his fall was stopped out of a sudden by arms around his upper body.

“Gaya.”

Fujigaya had slide on the wind behind Nikaido and had stopped Kawai’s attack with his own wind, so that Nikaido landed in his arms without getting hurt.

“Are you alright?”

“I guess.”

“Oh, how cute! You know, if I wanted you to be good at defense training I would hand you over to Totsu, but that is not what we are training here for!” Kawai sounded kind of angry, but he sounded angry all the time. Since Fujigaya found out that he couldn’t transfer his powers on Kawai, he had finally tried it with Nikaido two days before, but nothing had happened. They still weren’t sure if they should be shocked or relieved, but Kawai wouldn’t give them time to think about it. He didn’t believe that the Crytalile made it impossible to transfer the powers.

“When you create a wall around yourself you can just walk out of it, because you decide to do so. It should be the same with your power transfer, if you want to, you can!” This is what Kawai had explained or at least guessed. Since then he was literally trying to kill Nikaido and Fujigaya at the lessons, so Fujigaya would be forced to transfer his powers. But Fujigaya always found a way to get himself and Nikaido out of the attacks without needing to transfer his powers.

“If you want to give up just tell me!” Kawai growled annoyed.

“Hey, I tried to transfer them the whole lesson, but it didn’t work,” Fujigaya said honestly.

“Yes, it didn’t work, because there was no need to transfer them. First you need an input, so that you have no other choice but to transfer them. After that you will know how to do it anytime, but you have to feel it first.”

“So you want me to watch you killing Nikaido so I have no other choice or what?” Fujigaya yelled back.

“Yes, something like that.”

Fujigaya let out an annoyed chuckle, while putting his hands on his hips. “Sorry, but this is not something I can do.”

Kawai didn’t return anything for a moment and while Fujigaya had turned away from him ruffling through his hair Nikaido saw how Kawai looked to the forest for a moment and a brief lopsided smile appeared on his face as soon as it vanished again. “Then we should call it a day for now. Take the rest of the day off.”

Kawai left them without another word and the two stared after him in disbelieve. Normally he would never leave them alone until he was out of powers or they were so beaten up, that they needed a healing session first before they could continue.

First they didn’t really trust him and were waiting for some kind of ambush every moment, but when Goseki came back in the afternoon, all five star fighters gathered in the city hall, together with the other older ones in the village. Whatever was going on it seemed important. But at least they were sure, that there would be no interruption and since Taiga told his older brother that he was going over to Hokuto’s place with Kentaro and the rest of the younger ones, Fujigaya couldn’t stop grinning.

“Aren’t your mouth corners hurting already?” Nikaido asked chuckling while walking back into Fujigaya’s house after he had went over to his own house to finally change out of his training gear.

“Maybe they need something to relax?” Fujigaya asked, sitting on his bed and waiting for Nikaido to approach him and he didn’t have to wait for long. Nikaido pushed the older one on the sheets immediately and putting his hands next to his head.

“Something like this?” He asked, kissing him short before looking at him again, but he was still smiling way too wide.

“Mhh good, but still not enough,” Fujigaya teased, putting his hand on Nikaido’s cheek before he lifted up his head a little bit to put their lips together again, this time for longer.

Fujigaya tensed for a moment when he felt something strange, but when Nikaido put his hand under his shirt he was too distracted to care anymore. Fujigaya put his hands around Nikaido’s neck pulling him onto the bed so he had to sit on top of him.

Nikaido broke the kiss just to kiss his way down to his neck while stroking over his chest, making him shiver. Fujigaya was about to make Nikaido strip out of his shirt when this feeling came back again and this time it was stronger and he finally realized what it was. It was a presence. But it was a weird one, like someone tried to hide it, but Fujigaya’s powers could feel it anyways. It seemed like his powers tried to force him to feel the presence and it gave him a headache. He opened his eyes, looking up to the ceiling to the wooden strains and his eyes went wide as he realized why his powers were trying to make him concentrate so much.

“Nika, watch out!” It was a miracle to himself how he got them both out of the way in time. He hadn’t seen him sitting completely silent on the dark strains, but he had felt his presence at the last moment and as he tried to attack them Fujigaya had lifted them off the bed with a wind gust. Unfortunately he used so much force out of surprise that he crushed them into the next wall, making Nikaido gasp as he hit the wall first.

“What’s going on?” He asked, but shut up right away when he saw someone standing on the bed with most of his face hidden behind a black mask. He held on to a sword which he had just sunk into the bed where they had been laying just a second ago.

Nikaido didn’t even had enough time to realize what was going on as the person just jumped off the bed and came at them so fast that they had to jump away to different directions to not get hurt. Nikaido rushed over to the corner in which Fujigaya and Taiga always had their swords and grabbed one of it, but the moment he got a hold on it he heard Fujigaya scream out and swirled around panicked.

 


	36. On the way

Nikaido had already drawn out the sword the moment he turned around again. The intruder had crushed Fujigaya into the next wall his hands closed around his throat.

“Gaya!” The moment Nikaido called out for him the intruder was distracted and Fujigaya kicked him away. But even though he fell to the ground Nikaido couldn’t hit him. The moment he had lunged out with the sword the man had already started his next attack. He rolled over on the ground just to kick Nikaido in the stomach so hard that he crushed into the table behind him.

“You will pay for this!” Fujigaya yelled as he finally got some air in his lungs again. He pointed his hands towards the ground ready to destroy his own house to get rid of this guy, but when he moved his arms forward and nothing happened he stared at his own hands in shock.

“Gaya, watch out!” There was no time to think about what was happening, because the intruder had started another attack. Fujigaya dodged his punches and kicks for a moment, but then he stepped back and lunged out with his arm. Fujigaya didn’t get how he wanted to reach him with a punch from that far, but when he crushed into the wall sliding to the ground he finally realized what was going on.

“Leave him alone!” Nikaido was finally back on his feet about to attack.

“No Nika, stop!” Fujigaya wanted to stop him, but as he tried to stand up again a huge wave of pain went through his body and he screamed out. His scream distracted Nikaido and so his punch went into the air as the intruder ducked away from it, just to grab Nikaido’s arm and twist it on his back, forcing him on his knees. He put his free hand on Nikaido’s neck and looked over to Fujigaya who was breathing hard on the sudden pain.

“Don’t! Stop it!” Fujigaya wanted to stop him, but another wave of pain made him crumble to the ground again.

“GAYA!” Nikaido tried to free himself, but then his expression went blank and he collapsed to the ground. The intruder looked down on him kind of satisfied before he lifted him up and threw him over his shoulder. He was smaller than him, but Fujigaya could see that he used his wind powers to lift him up, after all he was a Phenomenist!

“Who are you? Why are you doing this?” Fujigaya shouted at him trying to crawl towards him if walking wouldn’t work. The man stretched out his arm and another wave of pain shot through his body. He couldn’t hear his own screaming anymore. He wanted to reach out for Nikaido, but the intruder stepped back, turning towards the door.

“No, please. Don’t take him!” Fujigaya’s voice was weak and begging. He saw how the stranger took Nikaido with him and then everything turned dark.

***

“Taisuke, can you hear me?”

“What the hell happened here?”

“Nii-san!”

Fujigaya could hear all the voices around him, but he needed a moment to force his eyes to open. Taiga was sitting next to him, while Kishi and Aran looked around the completely destroyed inside of the house worried. Hokuto stopped Kentaro as he tried to rush out the house again still shouting out for his brother.

“Kentaro calm down, maybe he wasn’t even around here,” Hokuto tried to calm him down.

“He was,” Fujigaya said, making everyone stare at him.

“Taisuke! Are you okay? What happened?” Taiga asked as he tried to help him sit up.

“Where is my brother?” Kentaro knew that he should ask him if he was okay, but he was too worried. He had suddenly felt that the presence of his brother was gone when he was together with Taiga and the others, so they rushed over as soon as possible.

“I don’t know. Someone ambushed us and he took him with him and-“ Fujigaya jumped up as he recalled everything that happened. His brother had to catch him as everything started spinning around him on the sudden move and he lost balance.

“Careful Taisuke!”

But he wasn’t even listening. He made a movement with his hands and stared at them in shock.

“They are gone!”

“What is gone?” Taiga asked confused, but his brother didn’t have the time to explain anything. He rushed passed everyone out the building towards the city hall. His brother tried to calm him down, but he couldn’t stop him.

He slammed the doors open, making Wataru and Senga jump up. Kame, Hasshi and the others stared at him perplex.

“Taisuke, what is wrong? What happened?” Wataru asked worried, seeing the bruises all over his body. Taiga and the rest rushed into the building after him.

“That’s what I want to know!” He took a few big steps towards them and stopped right in front of Kawai, grabbing his collar to make him stand up.

“Taisuke, stop it!” Wataru wanted to interfere, but Kame put his hand on his shoulder, holding him back.

“This has something to do with you, right?” Fujigaya growled at Kawai.

“I am not sure, what you are talking about.” Kawai said, raising his hands up kind of apologizing.

“Don`t play dumb! You tried everything to make me transfer my powers on Nika. But attacking us like that, blocking my powers and kidnapping Nika goes way too far!”

“WHAT?” Almost everyone had shouted at the same time.

“Senga go check if the Realitists are still in their cells.” Wataru shouted at Senga who was already rushing out the building yelling at Kishi and Aran to follow him.

“But when his powers are blocked then it has to be a Phenomenist, I don`t think they escaped.” Kame added with a worried look.

“But for now we have to find him that is our first priority, so Taisuke would you finally let go of him, please?” Wataru asked in a strict tone and with a flick of his tongue he let go of him pushing him backwards with such a force that Goseki had to catch him.

“Fujigaya, wait! You can`t just run out there and search for him.” Tegoshi warned him, blocking his way as he tried to run outside.

“He is right. We need a plan!” Wataru said looking at everyone who was gathered. “Let`s form teams for now and spread out to look for him. How much time has passed since the attack?”

“I don`t know, he tortured me with his powers and I passed out. When I woke up Taiga and the others were already there.”

“I felt that my brother’s presence was gone, but I don`t concentrate on it all the time, so I realized it, maybe around half an hour or so after the attack. We rushed over to Fujigaya`s place right away.”

“So they can`t have come too far, maybe he doesn`t even want to run away with him. We don`t know what he is up to, so we have to watch out.”

“He is strong, so much is for sure. Even though he is not around anymore and he had to use his powers to carry Nika, I still can`t fight his possessing off.”

“That makes it even more dangerous for you to search for him. He can hurt you at any time,” Totsu added worried.

“How about someone else tries to overpower his possession?” Kawai suggested but just the fact alone that he tried to help didn`t take Fujigaya`s suspicion of him.

“Let me see if I can do it!” Kame suggested and put his hand on Fujigaya`s shoulder and closed his eyes. But after a moment he backed off shaking his head.

“He is really strong, I guess the only one who could do it is Ueda and unfortunately he can`t help us at the moment.

Kame stepped back and even though he tried to avoid it Fujigaya could see his brief look over to Kawai. Kame`s look seemed worried, but also kind of angry.

“I am not going to stay around here and wait for this freak to kill him or do anything else to him.” Fujigaya yelled and then his look fell on Kentaro who had turned kind of pale on his statement. Taiga put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it comforting.

“Don`t worry, he will be alright. We will find him!”

Kentaro didn`t replied, he just nodded and stared worried to the ground.

“Okay so we make three teams. I know we could form more, but it would be dangerous to go just with two people, he could overpower us and we need to have enough people around to protect the village in case it is a trap to lure us away.” Wataru suggested and everyone nodded.

“Kentaro, it would be the best if you wait here. Are you okay with that?”

For a moment Kentaro didn`t answer, but he knew himself that he wouldn`t be of much help in his condition.

“I will stay with you, so don`t worry.” Taiga said comforting and with that they made a plan where to search and in which groups to go.

It was risky they knew, but they wouldn`t just do nothing. Nikaido was already a part of the village for almost half a year by now and thanks to him ad Kentaro so much had changed. Not just about Fujigaya`s ability to control his powers, but also about the bound this village shared. They grew to be a family again, something they had forgotten over the hard time they had faced after the war. And they wouldn`t let anyone hurt a family member again.

***

“NIKA! Can you hear me? Nika?”

“He will find us before we do, if he doesn’t stop shouting?” Goseki was right and finally Kame interfered, clapping Fujigaya on the shoulder after he was shouting out for him for almost half an hour already in the woods.

They had split up to the three directions of the borders. The possibility that he was fleeing towards the ocean was almost zero. No one dared to leave the country. American ships were on the oceans all over the world and they had no boats left anyways.

Junno, Hasshi and Massu went to the southern border, while Tsukada, Tegoshi and Totsu took a look around in the east. On his own wish Gaya asked to look in the north knowing that it was a Phenomenist he hoped he wouldn’t take him to the city.

“Can’t you feel anything, any kind of presence?” Wataru asked again, but all three shook their head.

“His power possession on Nika blocked his presence and he seems good in hiding his own.” Kame said and Fujigaya saw the same expression on his face then before in the city hall. He looked at Goseki for a brief moment, but then he sighed and clapped Fujigaya on the shoulder again.

“Let’s keep going. We have to hurry, if we want to catch up, we have to be faster than him or just lucky that he waits for us.” The second part of the sentence he had said in a low voice and Fujigaya wondered what he meant, but for now he started running. His worries were still too big to just concentrate on something else.

“From here we have to be careful. There are many cliffs and caves around.” Goseki warned them as they came so far northwards as Fujigaya and Wataru had never been.

“Taisuke, he said carful not hasty!” Wataru scolded him as he climbed over some big rocks unable to use his powers to get over them.

“Stop talking and come up here, we have no time!” Fujigaya felt more and more impatient, maybe they had chosen the wrong way after all, but then the ground under his feet started shaking.

“Shit, Taisuke get down from there!” Wataru shouted at him scanning his surroundings to find whoever was creating the huge earthquake.

“I will get him!” Kame was about to jump up on the first rock, floating on the air, but a huge stone cracked out of the next wall, making him jump back.

“What the hell?” As he landed back next to Wataru and Goseki, who had made a few steps backwards looking around as well, all the huge stone walls and trees around them crumbled and they had to flee.

“Taisuke, find a safe place and stay there until we find a way around!” Kame shouted at him before they ran out the crumbling canyon. They would have been able to stop the walls from crumbling. Kame and Goseki were strong enough for that, but then they would have not enough power in the case someone attacked them right after.

Fujigaya stared after them, but then the stone he was standing on got cracks and he finally took off to the other direction, hoping that they would make it to him somehow in time before something would happen and he had a bad feeling about exactly what could happen if they didn’t catch up to him.


	37. Control

 

Fujigaya jumped down the rocks on the other side right in time before everything crumbled down behind him.

“What the hell?” He let out, but he realized fast that it would take the others a while to find a way around. Using their powers to get over it would be too dangerous. For a moment Fujigaya thought about just waiting here as Kame told him, but as he remembered what happened earlier he couldn`t wait. He didn`t know what this guy was up to and he wouldn`t wait until Nikaido got hurt, if he was still alive that was.

He kept running through the forest for a while not sure where to go when he stopped abruptly. Did he imagine it or not? He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment and then his eyes flung open again and he rushed forward. He didn`t know how, but from one second to the other he could feel Nikaido`s presence again. He had no time to think about the reason. Maybe the man`s possessing on both of them just got weaker. Then Kame and the others should be able to find them soon as well.

“Nika! Can you hear me?” He knew it wouldn`t make any sense to try sneaking on them, because the other one should already know that he was around. He possessed him with his powers after all.

“Almost there!”

Fujigaya jumped to the side on the sound of an unfamiliar voice. But then he realized that it was the intruder's voice and he rushed towards the direction it was coming from. After he had run up a small hillside he had finally spotted them.

The intruder didn`t had his face mask on anymore and Fujigaya was more than surprised to see a boy instead of a man, maybe around twenty years old.

Then his look fell on Nikaido who was looking at him with wide eyes, but he seemed unhurt and to his surprise he wasn`t tied up. He was just standing there a few meters away from the boy.

“Nika, are you okay?” Fujigaya asked worried as he made a few steps towards him, but when Nikaido wanted to open his mouth to answer the boy moved his hand and Nikaido`s face twisted in pain as he fell to his knees with a pained yelp.

“He will be, if you stop right where you are,” The boy said in a dark voice. On the first glance he didn`t seem dangerous at all, but Fujigaya could see in his eyes that there was something weird about him. He had a dark side that was for sure, but it felt like there was also something good about him, but he couldn`t really understand what it was.

“So you found us, good job!”

“What do you want? Leave him alone!”

“I want to play a game.”

“Are you kidding me?” Fujigaya regretted his snappy answer the moment the boy lifted an eyebrow at him before forcing also Fujigaya to the ground out of pain.

“Does this feel as if I was joking?”

Fujigaya looked up at him with a hateful stare, but there it was again, this look in the boy`s eyes as if he wanted to apologize for what he was doing.

“Please stop!” Nikaido begged from the side and now the boy`s look fell on him like he had wanted him to interfere.

“You don`t like to see him suffer? What would you do, if you were the one making him suffer?”

Nikaido looked at him in confusion before he looked at Fujigaya, who was as clueless as him. But then Nikaido rose to his feet walking over to the boy.

“What the hell is going on?” Nikaido was terrified as he realized that he wasn`t the one moving his own body. The intruder just laughed before he drew out a small dagger and pointed it at Nikaido.

“Leave him alone!” Fujigaya growled.

“Oh don’t worry, I won’t do him any harm.” He turned the dagger around and Nikaido took it without wanting to. “But I can’t say the same about what he is going to do to you.”

Fujigaya could barely stand up in time before Nikaido attacked him. He tried his best to avoid all the attacks, but he knew he couldn’t win without attacking, but how was he supposed to attack without his powers. He didn’t want to hurt Nikaido and he wasn’t sure if the intruder wouldn’t just torture him the moment he tried to attack Nikaido.

Fujigaya ducked away from the dagger once more, but Nikaido kicked him at the same moment so that he landed on the ground taking a sharp breath as his head hit the ground way too hard.

“Gaya-“ For a moment Nikaido stood still with his arms shaking. Was the possessing getting weaker, was the stranger finally out of powers? But Fujigaya could still not use his powers and he had no time to find out more, because Nikaido started moving again and sat down on his stomach, pressing the knife to his throat.

Fujigaya closed his eyes not knowing what to do. He wouldn’t attack Nikaido to safe his own life. Then he felt something on his skin, had it started raining? But when he opened his eyes again he saw how Nikaido’s tears were dropping on his face.

“Gaya, please make me stop!”

Nikaido’s suffering made something crack inside of Fujigaya and he grabbed the knife trying to force it away from him.

“Oh isn’t that cute. What do you think you can do without your powers? They would be useful to someone else, but for you they are more a burden at the moment.”

Fujigaya didn’t want to listen to the stranger’s words still trying to somehow push Nikaido away from him, but he was too strong.

“Stubborn aren’t you. Then let me explain it again!” The boy snapped his fingers and Nikaido ripped his hand with the knife out of Fujigaya’s grip and sank it into his shoulder without any kind of warning. They stared at each other for a moment before Fujigaya realized the pain and screamed out.

“Told you, you won’t make it like this.”

Nikaido let out a whine as he was forced to pull the knife out of Fujigaya’s arm again and put it back to his throat. He was shaking and obviously trying to fight the stranger’s power, but without having powers himself he wouldn’t be able to and finally Fujigaya realized that there was a way out of this, if it was going to work.

Nikaido leant down to him as he brought the knife back to his throat. His eyes grew wide as Fujigaya pulled him even closer on his collar out of a sudden.

“This better works or we are both dead!”

Nikaido’s look told him that he didn’t know what was going on, but he had no time for explanations. What the stranger had said before finally made sense to him, if it really worked out. But why did he say it? Would he try to stop him? But he knew he had to try, so he pulled Nikaido into a kiss and even though he couldn’t transfer his powers until now it was different this time. He was sure that he could transfer them, because he had to! There was no other way!

 The stranger had said that the powers would be useful to someone else and he was right. If he was able to transfer them even through the possessing, then his powers would overpower the stranger’s powers in Nikaido.

Fujigaya’s grip on Nikaido was so strong that the younger one let out a painful gasp into his mouth after a moment. But Fujigaya wouldn’t risk Nikaido getting dragged away from him through the stranger’s influence. He closed his eyes and there it was! He could finally feel how his powers were moving and this time he was able to transfer them. Something still felt weird, but he felt that his powers went over to Nikaido.

“Gaya, stop! That’s enough!” Nikaido ripped himself out of his grip knowing that if he transferred even more power it would get dangerous. When the older one smiled at him he realized that he had the control of his body back.

“Are you okay?” Fujigaya asked worried as he sat up.

“Same question right back at you!”

Fujigaya was a little bit confused on Nikaido’s worried look, but then he realized that he didn’t feel exhausted at all, even though he transferred almost all his powers.

“Oh aren’t you cute?”

On the stranger’s sarcastic voice both jumped up with Nikaido automatically stepping in front of Fujigaya.

“If you give up now, we won’t hurt you!” Nikaido said in a calm voice, even though he still wasn’t sure if he could use Fujigaya’s powers as usual. But then the stranger started laughing while pointing at them.

“You really think you can stop me?” He made a step forward and Nikaido knew if he couldn’t use the powers they were doomed, but he had to try. He took a deep breath and stomped his foot to the ground so that a crack appeared in front of the boy’s feet. He jumped back looking at it with an amused face.

“So you can use them, isn’t that awesome. The perfect team has found back together.”

“How did you-“ Nikaido wanted to ask something, but the boy lifted his hand interrupting him before he could continue.

“Don’t you forget about something here?” He asked with a lopsided smile.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean this!” The stranger lifted his hand and as he moved it Fujigaya started screaming. Nikaido turned around to him, trying to catch him as he fell to his knees. But before his hand could reach him a wind gust crashed him into the next tree.

“You really thought it would be that easy?”

The boy approached Fujigaya while torturing him even more with every step he took towards him. Fujigaya was crouching down his face buried on the ground as he tried to stop himself from screaming.

“STOP IT!”

“One step and I will kill him!”

Nikaido froze on his statement. Was he bluffing? He hadn’t transferred more power over to him, how could he be able to kill him? But then he realized it. Because Fujigaya transferred his powers on him the possessing was easier for the boy now that there was no power left to fight against his.

“What do you want anyways?” Nikaido yelled at him, all this didn’t make any sense to him from the start. The boy didn’t answer right away, he looked away and for the blink of an eye Nikaido thought he saw some change of emotion on his face, but then the boy started chuckling.

“Maybe I just enjoy torturing people!?”

Fujigaya screamed again and this time Nikaido was sure that he actually would kill him, if they couldn’t stop him somehow. Nikaido tried to concentrate on Fujigaya’s power searching for the one power which would maybe help them out of here, but then he realized something that confused him. It wasn’t there or could he just not feel the other power?

“Hey, what are you up to?”

Nikaido lifted his head as the boy had of course realized that he was trying to find a way to attack. But exactly this was what he had waited for. The boy was focusing on him instead of Fujigaya and Nikaido made the boy stumble by breaking rocks out the ground. Before he could even find his balance again Nikaido had slid on the wind to stop right in front of him. But instead of using his powers, he kicked him so that he fell to the ground. He knew he needed a moment to concentrate his powers so that the fire blast he wanted to create would be effective enough.

For a moment the fight ended up to be more like a quarrel while both of them tried to get the upper hand. Nikaido realized that the boy was about to turn to Fujigaya while stretching his hand out, so he finally formed the fire blast to attack, but the boy was faster and Fujigaya screamed out again. Nikaido hesitated and then he felt a sharp pain and the fire in his hand dissolved as he realized what had happened.

“NIKA , NO!” Fujigaya was screaming, trying to crawl over to him, but the boy wouldn't let him. Nikaido fell on his knees his hands on his stomach were a knife’s handle was visible. Blood was running down on his hands and he could taste blood in his mouth.

“NIKA, ATTACK! DO SOMETHING!” Fujigaya was crying and screaming as the boy made it over to Nikaido with slow steps after he had thrown the knife at him.

“Trust me, he won’t attack anymore. He knows I am serious about killing you, if he attacks again!”

Fujigaya had never felt so helpless. He didn’t want to be the reason for Nikaido’s death. Then he realized that he had felt this way before. The scene of his older brother Mitsu dying in front of his eyes showed up in front of his eyes and there it was, a feeling he had never had before. Something strong that made him stand up and even though the boy shouted at him to stay down or he would kill him he started walking.

“Okay I warned you.” The boy said in a kind of scared voice. But then his eyes went wide as he stretched his arm toward Fujigaya, but nothing happened.


	38. Enlightenment

 

The boy tried to control Fujigaya again, but he couldn`t reach his own powers. He could feel that they were still inside him and normally strong enough to take control, but Fujigaya just kept moving towards him as if nothing could stop him.

“Stop or I will attack!” The boy said in a shaking voice. Nikaido knew that he couldn`t help at the moment, but he had this feeling that even if he really attacked Fujigaya, he didn`t have to worry.

“Out of my way!” Fujigaya said in such a determined voice that the boy made a step backwards.

“What do you think you can do without your powers, you have no chance of winning!” The boy said trying to sound confident, but his shaking voice didn’t make that easy. But Fujigaya remained unimpressed and took  another step towards him.

“Okay you ask for it!”

As Fujigaya made another step forward the boy lifted his arms, trying to attack with a wind gust, but Fujigaya raised his arms as well and there it was. A cell with a rainbow colored shine, trapping the boy and stopping his attack before it could reach Fujigaya.

“Impossible! You transferred your powers!”

“Who said that I transferred all of them? I transferred all of my normal powers!” Fujigaya explained, but to be honest he just understood this a few seconds ago as well. That was why it felt so weird. He wasn`t sure if he just couldn`t transfer them or if he still didn`t know how, but he was happy anyways. Like this they had won and he finally walked around the cell ignoring the boy for now before kneeling down next to Nikaido with a worried expression.

“Nika, we have to bring you to Miyata and Nakamaru as fast as possible!” Fujigaya said worried, trying to help him up. To his surprise Nikaido got up almost on his own and when he drew the knife out of his body Fujigaya looked at him with wide eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Don`t worry, the wound is deep, but the knife didn`t hit any vital organs, I can feel that. Your powers will be enough at the moment to make me stand and walk. Even more important is what are we doing with him? ” Nikaido pointed at the boy and Fujigaya turned to him as well walking over to his cell.

“Let`s see, you ambushed us, you kidnapped Nikaido, you possessed us, tortured us and the only thing I did to you is trapping you in a cell! That`s not fair, is it?”

The boy didn`t answer, instead he looked around the forest as if he was searching for something or someone.

For a moment they all remained silent, but then Fujigaya chuckled and walked closer to the cell. Something had changed in his attitude from one moment to the other and Nikaido felt that it wasn’t just anger speaking out of Fujigaya. It had happened without a warning, but a weird dark aura was suddenly surrounding him.

“If we wanted to we could just kill you here and now! I could slice you to pieces before you could even scream or crash you with the crytalile cell until it isn't bigger than a basket."

Fujigaya's words let Nikaido shiver, he had never saw him that angry, but now he could finally imagine how he had felt the night he got his powers and he had killed the murderers of his brother. But to be honest he didn't want him to kill out of revenge again. Fujigaya took a step forward and the boy seemed more than dead scared by now. Nikaido wondered where his confident and teasing attitude had gone off to. Would someone with such a personality really get that scared when he was about to get killed? Shigeoka, Tama and a lot of other people he had seen when they got killed were somehow still the same even while facing their deaths.

"Gaya, stop." Nikaido put his hand on the older one's shoulder, trying to talk a little bit sense into him, but he shook his hand off and turned to him with an angry glare.

For just a second Nikaido was not sure anymore if Fujigaya was still able to see the difference between friend and foe anymore and he automatically made a step back.

"You really want to let him off like this after what he did to you? After what he did to us?"

"I am not saying that we will not punish him, but not like this and not here. Let’s bring him back to the village for now, okay?"

Nikaido wanted to pass Fujigaya and walk over to the cell, when Fujigaya suddenly took him by the collar and crushed him into the next tree so that Nikaido let out a painful gasp.

"Gaya, I said my wound is good enough to stand and walk not to fight and by the way: what was that for anyway?"

But Fujigaya didn't answer, he was just staring at him and it gave Nikaido the creeps.

"Gaya what is wrong?" Nikaido tried to rip himself out of his grip, but his wound was still too bad to actually fight and when he grabbed Fujigaya's arms to make him let go of him he froze as he felt something weird on his skin.

"Crytalile?" He whispered to himself. He looked up to Fujigaya's face and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. His whole body was covered in some kind of second skin out of Crytalile. He shouted at him to come back to his senses, but it seemed like he couldn't hear him anymore. In the matter of seconds it seemed like the crytalile had taken over his body and mind completely.

Fujigaya's hands closed around Nikaido's throat and it was clear that he was seriously trying to kill him.

"Gaya, let go! Gaya-" under the force of his grip he slid to the ground. He needed his powers for healing, he couldn't attack him now or he might die even without Fujigaya strangling him.

He couldn't believe how they ended up like this. They were finally able to transfer Fujigaya's powers again and now he turned into some kind of mindless monster without them? But he had no time to think about all this. Breathing got painful and he could feel how he was about to black out when Fujigaya was suddenly pulled away from him.

For a moment he heard shouting and fighting noises, but every time he tried to open his eyes he could just see blurry shadows moving in front of his eyes.

"Cut! That is enough drama for one day. You did a great job, but let's call it a day." One of them said after the situation had calmed down again.

"Stop your stupid jokes already would you? Don't forget that I will punish you for this later!"

"Hey, it wasn't just me."

"But it was your idea!"

"And didn't it work out awesome? Okay I didn't think that Fujigaya would freak out like this, but we moved forward a lot."

Nikaido didn't really understand what was going on. He had his eyes closed barely able to follow the conversation. He didn't know whom the voices belonged to or what had happened to Fujigaya and the boy. But he wouldn't be able to find out right now as his body finally gave up and he lost consciousness.

***

“You know I should start taking money for everyone who I treat here these days!”

“Oh come on Miyata, it’s not that bad!”

“Says the one who was lying here with Massu for over a week, just to get up, get into a fight with Kame and come back here right away and you don’t want me to remind you of all the times I treated you before!”

“Got it, got it! Stop, it’s embarrassing.”

“And way too loud, what the hell are you two doing in here anyways?”

“We just wanted to ask how he is!”

“At the moment like all the times you asked before, asleep, but fine!”

“Hey, what are you all doing in here? Is he better?” Another loud voice appeared in the room and even though Nikaido was more or less still asleep even though everyone was not really trying to keep their voices down next to him he forced himself out of his sleep on the sound of his voice.

Nikaido sat up so fast that his brother jumped up from the chair next to his bed out of surprise. He looked at Tegoshi and Miyata which were standing in front of him, but then his eyes grew wide as he saw who was standing behind them. He had recognized his voice right away. He jumped up from the bed regretting it right away as he realized that his wound was still not completely healed. But he didn’t care.

“Nii-san, calm down! Don’t jump up like this!” His little brother tried to calm him down and stop him as he tried to move through the room.

“Let go!” He pushed Kentaro out of his way and Tegoshi and Miyata didn’t even try to stop him, as he passed them and took him by the collar and slammed him into the next wall.

“What are you doing here?” He hissed at the boy, which was the reason for all that had happened to them.

“Nice to meet you, too. My name is Yuma by the way.”

Nikaido turned his face to the others, waiting for any kind of reaction, but there was none.

“Is he kidding me?” He finally asked not sure if he should be angry or confused.

“No he is not, but maybe we should discuss this after you let go of him?” Kentaro suggested.

Nikaido turned towards Yuma again, which smiled kind of apologizing at him. Even though he wouldn’t just forgive him like this, he was sure that he wouldn’t attack them. He had had this weird feeling from the moment they had met that something was wrong with this boy and at least now he understood a part of it, maybe just a little one, but it was better than nothing. Growling, he let go off him and moved towards the door, leaving the room with his brother.

“Let’s get home and talk for now or do you want to go see Fujigaya first?” On his brother´s question Nikaido froze for a moment not knowing what to say.

“How is he?”

“He will be fine. You slept for a day, but he will sleep for a few days longer.”

“Then let’s leave him alone for now, how is Ueda?”

“Also still asleep. He went over his limits way too far. His DNA is badly destroyed. He might need even longer than Fujigaya to wake up again.”

For the rest of the way to their house they didn’t talk. It was unbelievable how much was going on those days. Everything had started to get totally confusing and also dangerous since Kame and the others had arrived in their village and it seemed to get more and more confusing with every new person arriving.

“So you want the detailed story or the short version?” Kentaro asked sitting down at the table in their house facing his brother on the opposite side.”

“Let’s try the short version for now.”

“Kawai set all this up! Goseki brought Yuma from the north to attack you, so Fujigaya was forced to transfer his powers on you. Kame found out the moment he tried out to overpower Yuma’s powers inside of Fujigaya. Of course he realized whose power it was. When he got separated from Fujigaya in the forest, it was Goseki who made the whole tale crumble so that Fujigaya had to fight alone. Kame found that out as well of course. But he played along until the situation escalated. Kawai had followed them and he rescued you together with Kame, Wataru and Goseki before Fujigaya could-“Kentaro stopped as he saw his brother’s blank expression.

He waited for him to understand everything he had just explained, but reality wouldn’t want to catch up with Nikaido. The only thing he could clearly remember were Fujigaya’s hands around his throat and his terrifying expression. He shook his head like he wanted the memory to disappear.

“Are you okay?” His little brother asked worried, grabbing his hands which he had clenched to fists on the table.

“I am fine, don’t worry.” He tried to smile at him, but something inside of him told him that he might not be fine. Everything depended on one moment. The moment when Fujigaya would wake up!


	39. Broken Bond

 

„Kame, please talk to me! You can also scream at me or punch me, but don’t ignore me!“

Everyone was laughing at the way Kawai was running after Kame the whole time trying to get some kind of reaction out of him. He had warned him that he would get punished for what he did to Nikaido and Fujigaya. Yuma and Goseki were also about to get punished, but Kame wouldn’t tell them when and that made Kawai go insane.

For two days already he ran after him too afraid to let him get out of his sight, he couldn’t even sleep. But Nikaido could just shake his head at his behavior. He knew that Kame’s punishment would be hard, but it won’t kill him, so he should calm down. On the other hand Nikaido liked the way he was suffering, it was some kind of payback for him.

“Hey, would you concentrate a little bit?” Kentaro hit his brother with the rake he held in his hand for harvesting the fields. “The work doesn’t get done by staring!”

“Why are you working so hard anyways? The others told you to rest, but all you do is working and training!”

“It’s my way of distraction!”

“Distraction of what?” Nikaido asked, but shut up right away, as the answer hit him together with Kentaro’s angry glare.

“Forget it, stupid question.” Nikaido turned away from him putting his own rake down to the field again. Wasn’t he the same? Both of them tried to distract them with whatever work or training was there to not think about those who were most important to them, but also hurting them the most at the moment.

“Hey, can I help you?” Yuma approached them and Nikaido stepped between him and Kentaro out of reflex.

“Yes you can leave us alone, that would help a lot!”

“Nii-san, stop being so resentful!” Kentaro scolded him, hitting him on the back of his head.

“He threw a knife at me!”

“But I watched out to not kill you!” Yuma said kind of proud.

“Maybe it would have been better then you wouldn’t live with the fear of me killing you.”

Yuma looked from him to Kentaro with huge puppy eyes and Kentaro couldn’t stop himself from laughing.

“Yuma I am not sure how the hell you were able to fight this serious against them! You doesn’t seem scary to me at all!”

“I take that as a compliment! To be honest I don’t really like hurting people, but I also don’t like it to not pay my debts and I still had a huge one on Kawai, so as he asked me to help out with his plan or more like Goseki asked me instead, I couldn’t say no.”

Nikaido wanted to ask what kind of debt could be big enough to make him and Fujigaya suffer so much, but the sudden sad expression of the boy signaled him that it might not be the best time to ask him.

“Oh by the way! Kentaro I heard you can control water?” Yuma was at least good in not getting himself get pulled down by negative emotions. Nikaido envied him for that, because it wasn’t the same for him especially not at the moment.

“Yes I can, Hasshi taught me how!”

“Awesome! He taught me as well, if you want to we can train a little bit together later.”

“That would be awesome!”

Yuma promised to ask Hasshi for training for both of them later before he left.

“I still don’t like him!”

Kentaro sighed at his brother’s stubborn behavior and before Nikaido could get annoyed any more Kentaro formed a wave out of the water on the rice field and dropped it right over Nikaido’s head.

His squeal and confused look after the ice cold water had hit him made Kentaro laugh so much that his stomach started hurting. At least this part of their life hadn’t changed at all. They were a family and they would be there for each other whatever they had to face in the future.

Nikaido smiled at his little brother before he chased after him trying to pull him into a hug so he could taste his own medicine. So the working part of the day seemed to be over.

***

“Are you going to train today?” Senga asked Nikaido as he saw him sitting in front of the city hall, obviously lost in his thoughts. After they had ended the field work Kentaro had taken off with Hasshi and Yuma for a lesson at the river.

“No, I think I will give myself a break.”

“Sounds so nice. I should consider that as well, before I seriously try to kill Tsukada!”

“Is he really so annoying?”

“He is happy!”

“And?”

“He is so happy, that it is not just annoying, but makes you go insane.”

Nikaido had to chuckle on his serious expression, but he knew what he meant. It was hard to fight against someone who was not just stronger, but also gave them the feeling, that he is making fun of them.

“You will get your chance to make him lose his smile, just keep trying!” Nikaido said while standing up clapping him comforting on the shoulder. Senga gave him a brief smile before he walked over to the training ground.

Nikaido could feel how tense everyone was those days. All the fighting training was getting to them all. They were all very stressed, even though they tried their best to hide their worries and fears. They knew that it wouldn’t take much longer until Kame would bring the topic up again, the one topic they all feared to speak about.

As Nikaido stopped walking around the village he realized that he had stopped in front of Miyata’s house. He had stopped here a lot over the last days, looked at it from afar, but never entered even once after he had left it right away after he had woken up. Even though he was in there, even though he knew he was hurt and he would normally rush in there and sit next to his bed for 24h a day holding his hand until he woke up, something hold him back this time. Everyone had noticed of course, but no one dared to ask, because except for Yuma, Kame and the others which came to his rescue and of course Miyata and Nakamaru no one knew what had happened.

They agreed to not say anything about what happened with Fujigaya until he woke up. Not even Taiga knew what had happened.

Nikaido let out a deep sigh before he turned around again, but as he made the first step towards his house he heard shouting inside Miyata’s house and it got louder.

“Don’t just jump up like this!”

“Let go!”

“He is right, would you just take it slow? He is alright!”

“I said let go, I will check if he is alright myself!”

With that the door flung open with a huge slam and Fujigaya jumped out followed by a worried looking Miyata and Nakamaru.

“Leave me alone!” Fujigaya had not even realized that Nikaido was standing right in front of him or more behind him, because he had turned around right away scolding the two again. “I am fine so would you excuse me, I have to see- NIKA!”

On his last words he turned around and looked perplex at Nikaido who was standing right in front of him.

“NIKA! ARE YOU OKAY? HOW ARE YOU WOUNDS?” Fujigaya was examining his body, squeezing his shoulders happily as he realized that he seemed fine.

“I will be better if you stop shouting at me!” Nikaido said serious, but before he could say anything else Fujigaya pulled him into a tight hug, but Nikaido didn’t hug him back.

“Nika, I am so sorry!” A shiver ran over Nikaido’s back as Fujigaya spoke in a low voice, resting his head on his shoulder.

“I put you in so much danger, if I had been able to transfer my powers earlier to you, if we could have trained all this for longer already this would not have happened.”

Nikaido froze, was that the only thing he wanted to apologize for? Without even realizing what he was doing he pushed Fujigaya away from him trying to keep his distance. Fujigaya looked at him in a mixture of worry and surprise. He didn’t know himself why he felt so uncomfortable the moment Fujigaya had hugged him, why his body wouldn’t want to feel his warmth anymore which he normally tried to keep as close to him as possible. At the moment everything inside of him screamed to keep him away.

“Gaya, how much do you remember?”

“I transferred my powers to you and but I couldn’t help you, because he kept torturing me and then he hit you with the knife-“ Fujigaya shook his head, but Nikaido needed to know, something was not right, he could feel that.

“And?”

“The moment you were sitting on the ground with all the blood covering you I remembered how Mitsu died and I really wanted to help you, but-“ His voice broke and he tried to stop his sobs. Even Miyata and Nakamaru came a little bit closer now trying to listen to what he could remember.

“But, what?” Nikaido tried hard to keep his voice down.

“But I couldn’t! Of course I couldn’t. How could I have even thought that I could help you as long as this guy had the control over my body? Nika, I am so sorry for blacking out! When I was waking up just now and Miyata told me that you were alive and alright I was maybe the happiest person in the world.”

But that was definitely not how Nikaido felt. He was confused and angry, but then he heard someone shouting out for them and as he turned around he saw how Kame, Wataru and Kawai approached them.

“Taisuke, you are awake, great! How are you feeling?” Kame asked stopping between Nikaido and Fujigaya.

“I think I am alright. I feel kind of weird, but I guess it is because I transferred all my powers to Nikaido while fighting. I will be back to normal in no time.” Fujigaya smiled at Kame, but turned to Nikaido as he chuckled in a bitter tone.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nikaido, what’s wrong?” Kawai asked, but when Nikaido looked up at him with such an evil glare which he had never seen on his face he took a step backwards.

“What’s wrong? EVERYTHING IS WRONG!” Nikaido shouted at them furiously. His breathing got heavy and he clenched his fists to stop them from shaking.

“But my plan worked out and you are all fine!” Kawai tried to calm him down in a low voice, but he just got another bitter chuckle from him while shaking his head.

“Yes it worked out pretty awesome! Maybe you should tell him about it, because he doesn’t even seem to remember!” Nikaido yelled while pointing at Fujigaya.

“What do you mean? What’s going on?” Fujigaya looked from one to the other like a child which was in a crowd full of strangers searching for a familiar face.

“This is your entire fault!” Nikaido shouted at Kawai again reaching out for him obviously trying to punch him as Fujigaya took his arm to stop him.

“Nika, wait. What is going on?”

Before Nikaido could catch up with his own movements he had pushed Fujigaya away intuitive and with so much force that Wataru had to catch him.

“Don’t touch me!”

Did he really just say that? He had heard his own words and the look on Fujigaya’s face told him that he had really said that. And again he wanted to reach out for him, pull him into a hug and apologize, but he couldn’t. Because something was there which was keeping him away, which told him to stay away.

“Nika?” Fujigaya wanted to approach him again, but Nikaido shook his head trying to stop his eyes from filling with tears. But the first tear dropped right before he had turned around without saying another word.

Nikaido didn’t allow himself to start running. He turned towards his house and was more than relieved when he realized that Kame and the others had stopped Fujigaya from following him, even though he was shouting at them to let him go. He was screaming his name not getting what was going on and a shiver ran down Nikaido’s back on Fujigaya’s voice, which was shaking and he could hear worry and also fear in it, but he didn’t allow himself to turn around. He needed time, even though he didn’t know himself at the moment for what.

 


	40. Fear

 

“Stop showing off, it is annoying!” Kentaro said trying to keep a straight face, but Yuma could see the hidden smile.

Of course Kentaro was jealous of Yuma’s amazing control of the water, but after Hasshi had explained him through how much training he had to go to be able to even do the same as Kentaro did at his first lesson, he was kind of motivated to try as hard as he could to get even better than Yuma.

“Okay take a break!” Hasshi ordered after Yuma and Kentaro were standing in the middle of the river for several minutes already trying to stop the river from flowing past them.

While Kentaro was just able to stop the water which would normally crash him, Yuma stopped it in a radius of about five meters, which was pretty amazing.

But now that they were back at the river side even Yuma let himself drop to the ground next to Kentaro while breathing hard, obviously happy about the break.

"Kentaro, you are really getting better pretty fast, you might even have a better control of your powers than Yuma and I do," Hasshi announced kind of proud and Kentaro gave Yuma a brief smile, on which he hit him on the shoulder.

"Don't you get arrogant now, just because of a small praising. Trust me he will do horrible things from now on, after all he will definitely try to test your limits now."

"Hey, that's not true."

"Oh no? So how do you describe my training then? Trying to drown me, throwing me in every river or lake you could find and even possess me with your powers so I had to find another way out, you call that a normal training?" Yuma's voice was not judging and his light smile told Kentaro that they were a good team.

"It was the right training plan for you, but for Kentaro it might be a little bit harsh."

"Thanks," Kentaro replied with a smile so that Yuma hit him again.

"I told you, don't trust him so much. He will say that now and in a few nights he will stay in front of your bed with a huge bucket of water."

"Oh come you still didn't forgive me for that?"

Kentaro wanted to concentrate on their story, but some presence made him focus towards another direction. He tried to concentrate on it, but it was like the person tried to hide his presence what made Kentaro even more suspicious. Then finally he realized who it was and he rose to his feet faster than he wanted to.

"Everything alright?" Yuma asked him worried.

"Yes, sorry. Would you mind if I leave for the village first?" Kentaro asked Hasshi, which gave him a confused look, but just nodded instead of asking about his behavior.

"No problem, go on. We will be coming in a while as well."

Kentaro excused himself, happy that they didn't ask what made him jump up like this. He left to the direction of the village and after he was out of both their sights he turned northwards and started running, hiding his presence as good as he could, so he wouldn't notice him catching up.

***

"What do you mean, he is gone?" Kame asked worried after Nakamaru ran out of Miyata's house almost panicked calling out for Kame.

"I wasn't spending so much attention to his presence earlier, because of the ruckus around Fujigaya and Nikaido, he must have used that moment to sneak out. He might be gone for over an hour already."

Kame looked northwards trying to sense Ueda's presence, but he was good in hiding it. But then he realized someone else's presence at the time as Nakamaru's eyes grew wide as he could also feel the almost hidden presence.

"No, he didn't-"

"Hey what is going on? We just bumped into Wataru as we came back from the training. It was good to hear that Fujigaya is awake again, but when it is true what Wataru told us, he and Nikaido have a small crisis!?" Hasshi and Yuma approached them, but Kame took Hasshi by the shoulders instead of answering.

"Where is Kentaro?"

"Isn't he back? He told us that he wanted to go back earlier," Yuma answered worried seeing Kame's stressed face.

“So the presence I felt following Ueda was really Kentaro.”

"Oh that's not good. What are we going to do?" Nakamaru asked.

Kame let go of Hasshi again and ruffled through his hair and flicked his tongue.

"Nothing."

"What?" All three asked at the same time.

"They are heading northwards so at least they won't get attacked. Ueda might try to return to our camp in the north. It might be time for him and Kentaro to face this alone."

“After you and Ueda almost ripped each other apart over this matter, you want them to face it alone now?” Nakamaru knew why Kame was against their relationship, so he was more than sceptic about Kame`s sudden decision.

“I made my point clear to him and the fact that he just left like this makes it also clear that he is serious about Kentaro.”

“Okay you lost me! How come he is serious, when he leaves without him?” Hasshi asked with a confused impression and also Yuma seemed to have lost track of the conversation.

“Do you see Kentaro around?”

“Ehm, no. He is following Ueda, right?”

“But we didn`t even realize that Ueda was gone, right? Because he hid his presence!”

“Oh, now I get it!” Hasshi snapped his fingers after a moment and also Nakamaru nodded.

“Wait, am I the only one who still can`t follow?” Yuma asked confused.

“Ueda didn`t hide his presence from Kentaro! He wanted him to follow, so they could solve this problem on their own without us interfering.” Kame finally explained.

“But what do we do with Nikaido, are we telling him?” Nakamaru seemed to know the answer to his question already, but he wanted to ask Kame anyways.

“No, let`s not tell him for now. We have to wait until he settled his problems with Fujigaya first.”

“And how do we do that? He seemed really angry or more disappointed, I don`t even get what was going on earlier!”

“I think I know and that is why we have to make them speak to each other as soon as possible or it will get even worse!”

The rest just nodded and left the rest to Kame, which was heading off to find Taiga, so that he could make Fujigaya face Nikaido before he would totally break down over his emotions.

***

Fujigaya was sitting in front of the fire place for a few hours already after Taiga had brought him home. He had reached the scene the moment Nikaido was leaving and his brother was shouting after him. Taiga was still confused what was going on, but the same applied for everyone else.

Kame came by a few minutes ago and asked Taiga to come out for a moment. Fujigaya couldn't bother less. After Nikaido's weird reaction after he had told him that he didn't remember anything that happened he had ask Kame to tell him, but he refused. Even Yuma didn't tell him. They had told him to talk about it with Nikaido, but that wasn't so easy. Right now Fujigaya was maybe the last person he wanted to see and he didn't even know why. He pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his head on them letting out a long sigh.

"For how long do you want to sit there and drown in despair?"

Fujigaya hadn't even realized that his little brother had entered the house again.

"I'm not drowning in despair, I am thinking."

"Then whatever you are thinking about won't help you to find out what happened. I am sorry, I don't know either, so why are you not going to Nikaido and ask?"

Fujigaya let out a sarcastic laughter on his brother's naive sounding words.

"If it would be that easy-"

"It is, actually. Taisuke, what do you think will happen?"

Fujigaya couldn't answer. Sure Nikaido freaked out and he seemed also angry and somehow hurt. But wasn't Taiga right? He wouldn't approach on his own and Fujigaya didn't want to go on distance again after Nikaido had fought for so long to finally get him to realize that there was nothing to fear.

"Taisuke, I told you thinking won't do it!" Taiga repeated as Fujigaya looked into the flames in front of him lost in his thoughts. But before his little brother could scold him again he stood up and approached him. He gave him a pat on the shoulder and brief smile before he aimed for the door.

He stopped in the doorframe for a moment, but he knew Taiga was right.

“So are you going to him?” Taiga asked carefully when his brother didn’t move for a while.

“Yes, I will. He is the one who fought for our relationship when I didn’t. Now it is my turn to do so!” He smiled at Taiga before leaving and even though he couldn’t see it, his brother gave him a really bright smile in return. Finally he was ready to fight!

***

„Nika, I know that you are in there!”

Fujigaya was knocking on Nikaido’s door for a while already, but he didn’t get any reaction from the inside.

“Nika, I can feel your presence.”

Still no answer.

“You know that I can easily break the door, right?”

Still no answer, but steps and finally he opened the door. He didn’t look at Fujigaya. He just opened the door for him and went back to his chair, not uttering a word.

Fujigaya stood still for a moment not sure what to do. Yes he knew he was the one who had to do the talking this time, but he didn’t know what to say, because he still didn’t get what was going on.

But he realized that Nikaido would completely ignore him, even if he stayed there for hours so he finally approached him and sat down at the other side of the table. As he leant forward putting his arms on the table, Nikaido leant back on his chair, turning his face away.

For just a second Fujigaya wanted to shout at him. But he knew that if he lost it now, just because he didn’t understand why Nikaido was acting so weird, he would do more harm than anything else.

“Would you mind explaining yourself?” He started carefully with his eyes fixed on his boyfriend.

Nikaido said nothing, he didn’t even look at him and Fujigaya took his arms away from the table clenching them to fists underneath it to keep calm.

“Nika, I can’t help you, when I don’t know what happened! No one wants to tell me and this alone made me at least realize that I didn’t black out. Something happened, right? Something I can’t remember and it seems to make you angry, so I would like to know what happened.”

Nikaido escaped a bitter laugh and finally he looked up at him, even though it was just for a brief moment before he looked away again.

“Angry? No trust me it didn’t make me angry.”

“Then what? Please, Nika! Tell me what had happened!”

Nikaido just shook his head and Fujigaya could see that he was hiding something. He stood up and moved around the table, putting his hand on Nikaido’s shoulder. He didn’t want to yell at him, he didn’t want to do him any harm, but when Nikaido slashed away his hand and jumped up from the chair taking a few steps back he was more than surprised by his reaction.

“What are you doing?” Fujigaya asked carefully as Nikaido looked at him with wide eyes as if he didn’t want to show this reaction, but couldn’t stop his own body from moving away from him.

But through this Fujigaya was sure that if he didn’t do something, Nikaido would never tell him what had happened and he would eventually lose him.

“Nika, I asked you something!”

Fujigaya took another step forward, but when Nikaido reacted with another step backwards Fujigaya finally lost it. He kicked the chair out of his way making Nikaido flinch at it crushed into the wall next to him.

“Gaya, stop it please.”

Fujigaya’s anger changed into surprise for a moment. Normally Nikaido would shout at him what the hell would be wrong with him and now he tried to calm him down and take his distance? This didn’t make any sense to him anymore.

“No, I won’t stop! Not until you are telling me what happened!”

Fujigaya took a few big steps forward and he wasn’t even surprised as Nikaido tried to back off even more, but his back hit the wall and Fujigaya used his distraction to get a grip on him. He pushed him against the wall, but Nikaido tried to fight him off. As he tried to escape his grip, ducking away under his arms Fujigaya clasps his arms around him from behind.

“Nika, stop this nonsense!”

“Let go!”

“No I am not going to let go of you, until you tell me what happened!”

But Fujigaya could feel that Nikaido got tense through his grip. He struggled really hard and it seemed like he would start hyperventilating if he didn’t let go of him soon. But that was also the reason why Fujigaya was determined to make him spill out what happened. If he was the reason for his behavior, he wanted to know.

“Just let go for now!” Nikaido begged between short breaths. As Fujigaya didn’t do what he said he got almost hysteric, trying to kick him away.

“Tell me what happened and I will let go!”

Nikaido shook his head and Fujigaya could hear sobs between his short breaths. His struggle getting less through his dizziness caused by his hysteric breathing.

“I can’t tell you!” He whispered as his legs finally gave in and he fell to his knees Fujigaya going down with him, holding him up so he wouldn’t break down completely.

“Why not?” Now Fujigaya tried to keep his voice down as well. He knew there was no need to yell at him anymore.

“Because everything we have been fighting for would be over then.”

And finally Fujigaya understood. He still couldn’t remember a thing, but at least he got why Nikaido was acting like this.

“You are afraid. You are afraid…of me!?”

 


	41. Break through the wall

Nikaido took a deep shaking breath as Fujigaya finally loosened his grip around him.

“I- , Did I-“

Fujigaya’s thoughts were racing. He didn’t want to ask, but he had to know, even though the truth would hurt.

“Nika, did I hurt you?” His voice was nothing more than a whisper and for a moment Nikaido didn’t react. But then he moved away from him just to turn around and look at him. He didn’t have to answer, his look told Fujigaya everything he had to know.

This was why he was angry that he didn’t remember and also the reason why he didn’t want him to touch him. Fujigaya sighed and hid his face in his hands for a moment, but even though he tried to remember with all his might, he couldn’t recall anything.

“Nika, please tell me what happened.” Fujigaya shivered on his own words. To be honest he didn’t want to know, but he had to. Nikaido hugged himself and closed his eyes for a moment like he didn’t want to remember.

“You tried to kill me…“

His voice sounded so hurt that Fujigaya wasn’t sure if he had heard right. He needed a moment to realize what he had just said.

“You were getting totally out of control. You wanted to kill Yuma, but then you attacked me instead of him and if Kame and the others wouldn’t have made it in time-“His voice broke and he took another deep breath, facing the ground again.

Fujigaya stared at him in disbelieve. He knew he wasn’t lying, why should he? But just the fact that he couldn’t remember a thing made him desperate. The first tear ran down his cheek as he shook his head as if he could get rid of the truth like this.

“This can’t be. After all the difficulties we faced. After all the effort you made so we would find back together. This is not fair!”

“No it’s not.”

They were staying silent for a long time, not talking nor looking at each other. What were they supposed to do? Would Nikaido leave for good now? Would he just grab his little brother and leave for the north and what was Fujigaya supposed to do? If his powers made him lose control over his own actions he couldn’t continue like this either. His little brother could be his next victim or Wataru or anyone around him.

But this time he didn’t feel like running away. When he got his new powers, he didn’t want to accept them, he wanted everyone to stay away from him, but not this time. He was scared! Scared to be left alone, especially by Nikaido.

“Nika?” Fujigaya asked in a careful low voice as if even his voice could scare him.

“Mh?”

“I know it is much to ask for, but would you-“Another tear dropped down on the ground before his voice broke. He thought after staying silent for a moment he would get a grip again, but it seemed like he was wrong. But he wouldn’t allow himself to break down. He looked up and was more than relieved to see that Nikaido was looking at him with the same tears glittering in his eyes.

“Would you fight for us this time as well?” Fujigaya took another deep breath looking to the ceiling so his tears would stop rolling down his cheeks. “I don’t want to give up! I don’t want to lose you! I am not sure how, but there has to be a way out of this! Please don’t leave me alone.” His voice broke again with his last words and he buried his face in his hands.

Then he felt arms around him. He didn’t move as Nikaido moved towards him and pulled him into a hug so careful and slow that Fujigaya held his breath for a moment, afraid that every movement could make him back off. But then he had wrapped his shaking arms completely around him and rested his head on the older ones hair.

“I won’t leave you. Yes I am scared and I don’t know what we are supposed to do, but we will find a solution.”

Those words were enough for him. He reached out for Nikaido’s clothes. He moved slow and stopped as his fingertips got in contact with Nikaido’s shoulders, but when he didn’t try to back off, he wrapped his arms around him as well, closing his eyes and trying to forget about all those difficulties they had to fight until now. He tried to remember the time when they had met, but now it seemed like a dream, a dream he had finally woken up from to be thrown into cruel reality. So for now all he wanted was to go back to sleep, to see this beautiful dream again.

***

Kentaro was running after him for quite a while already, never losing orientation. His presence was hard to sense, but it seemed to Kentaro like he wouldn’t even try to hide it completely, so he wasn’t even surprised when he finally reached a cliff around an hour away from the northern border and saw him sitting on a stone, looking at him as if he had waited for him to come.

“You know, the next time you want to speak to me, you could choose a place which is not that far!” Kentaro said out of breath while sitting down on another big stone next to Ueda.

“Who said that I wanted to speak to you?”

Kentaro didn’t have to answer. Ueda wasn’t good in hiding his intentions, but he was also not good with long talks and explanations.

“It is not like I am going to force you to say anything.”

“So Kame didn’t tell you until now?”

“No he didn’t and I didn’t ask him about it.”

Ueda just nodded slowly and Kentaro could feel how heavy the burden was Ueda was carrying. But even though he felt sorry for him, whatever it was he hid from him, he really wanted to know.

“Do you want to tell me?”

“To be honest, no.”

They fell silent for a moment, Ueda twisting his fingers around each other nervously. Kentaro could feel that he really didn’t want to tell him, but that he needed to. He needed someone to share this burden and because it was definitely connected to their relationship Kentaro wanted to know.

“Are you not telling me, because I am not important enough?”

“No!” Ueda looked at him with wide eyes and Kentaro could feel that Ueda was really afraid of losing him through keeping his past a secret.

"It is because I love you, that I don't want to tell you." Ueda rested his head in his palms for a moment sighting deep obviously not sure what to do anymore.

"Ueda, I know that it must be hard for you, but I have the feeling that if you don't tell me we can't continue."

Ueda looked up at his statement again, but Kentaro's straight expression told him that he meant what he said.

For a moment both stayed silent again and Kentaro was about to stand up, when Ueda started speaking in a low voice, keeping his head down.

"He came to our hideout just a few days before it happened. I didn't even know him really good and it was not like I was totally in love with him, but there was this tension. So after a few days we ended up spending the night together." He paused a moment and Kentaro could feel how hard it was for him to retell what had happened. Kentaro stood up just to sit down next to Ueda, grabbing his shaking hands and finally Ueda looked up to him. Kentaro gave him a nod and squeezed his hands signaling him that everything was fine.

"Your brother told us when we arrived that it was after Fujigaya and he had spent their first night together that he had completely realized that Fujigaya was able to transfer his powers to him. It is the same for Phenomenists. As we explained, we can transfer our powers to other Phenomenists to possess them or make them stronger. But when your powers are strong and you can't control your transfer it can hurt someone or even kill him."

Slowly Kentaro realized where this conversation was going and he also understood how lucky Fujigaya and his brother were that they matched each other so good. He shook his head on the thought what could've happened to his brother if it wouldn't have been Fujigaya.

"So you killed him that night?" Kentaro had said it before he even realized it. But Ueda had completely fallen silent and now he just nodded. He lowered his head again and Kentaro could feel how his body was shaking and how he tried to suppress his sobs, but the first tears already dropped to the floor. Kentaro stood up and pulled him into a hug, closing his arms around his head and shoulders. Ueda grabbed Kentaro’s waist and pulled him closer to hide his face in his shirt.

"I knew that my powers were strong and sometimes hard to control, but I never expected this to happen." His voice was weak and breaking between his sobs. Kentaro could understand his misery. He realized again how frightening it could be to be a Phenomenist. Even in the most intimate moments, which were supposed to be something to strengthen and deepen a relationship, their powers could destroy everything and take away what is most precious to them.

“Thank you,” Kentaro whispered.

Ueda didn’t respond instead he grabbed his shirt even tighter.

“Thank you for telling me! I can understand why you wanted to hide it.”

Kentaro backed off a little bit to lift up Ueda’s head. Tears were glittering in his eyes and he obviously didn’t want Kentaro to see them. But Kentaro wouldn’t allow him to look away.

“You were the one who told me that we can take this slow and this is exactly what we are going to do.”

Ueda looked a little bit confused, but he still didn’t respond.

“Did you lose all your words now? I can keep talking if you want, but it would be nice to know that you are listening.”

A brief smile showed up on Ueda’s face as he put his hands over Kentaro’s, stroking over them with his thumbs. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the warmth of his hands on his face.

“I was so afraid of telling you. After what had happened, I never approached someone in this way again, but as I met you I just couldn’t ignore my own feelings anymore. It was the first time that my feelings for someone were that strong.”

“Maybe we are perfectly matching each other. You know like my brother and Fujigaya. Maybe this is why we couldn’t stay away from each other.”

“I hope you are right. I wouldn’t forgive myself if something happens to you.”

“Don’t think about something like that. For now everything is alright.”

Kentaro couldn’t wait any longer. He leant forward and put his lips on Ueda’s before he could even think about something to respond.

The kiss wasn’t deep and didn’t last long, but when Kentaro backed off again, he could see that he had finally made Ueda understand that he wouldn’t leave him because of the danger which lay in their relationship.

“You want to stay out here for longer?”

“Just for a while if it is okay for you? I just need a little bit space from everyone’s feelings and worries.”

Kentaro knew exactly what he meant. Now that they trained their presence sensing powers so much, it was hard to make them stop working. Everyone’s feelings were crashing onto them and knowing how hard it was for Ueda to get his powers shut down, he really needed a little bit space.


	42. Counterattack

 

The night was calm and no one dared to go near Nikaido's house. Fujigaya hadn't come out again and the fact that Nikaido didn't even ask where is brother was made clear that the situation was more than serious.

Taiga was sitting in front of his house almost the whole night, until really late Kame had shown up and had finally told him what had happened between his brother and Nikaido. From that moment he couldn't calm down at all anymore. He could already see the first light rising behind the mountains.

"You look tired!" Junno said as he sat down next to him, squeezing his shoulder comforting.

"Trust me, if I could I would sleep until all this mess is finally over."

"Oh then good luck. I would say I will wake you up then, but I'm not sure if that time will ever come."

Taiga let out something in between a chuckle and a sob. He knew it was just the truth, but it was still hard to accept.

"You know the time when we founded this village with all of you is still my most precious memory since the war ended."

Junno nodded and put his arm around his shoulders, seeing the tears glittering in his eyes.

"All the comfort you guys gave to us, everything you did for my brothers and me, I will never forget it. But to be honest, if I could I would go back to the time before the war, even though it would mean I would have never met any of you."

His voice got lower and the first tear rolled down his cheek. Junno pulled him into a hug and stroke over his hair while Taiga finally allowed himself to break down.

"You were always strong. You kept fighting your own battle. You kept strong after Mitsu's death as Taisuke couldn't. You are always there for everyone and never allow anyone to see that you need comfort as well. Even if you hide your scars caused by your memories and try to smile at everyone it is no problem to just show what you feel from time to time. We are all here to comfort you, don't be afraid to be weak sometimes." Junno's words were gentle and Taiga had burried his face on his shoulder. He wanted to thank him, but his sobs wouldn't allow him to speak and he was more than grateful that Junno just remained there with him until he had finally calmed down again.

Since Mitsu's death he had tried to stay strong for Fujigaya. He knew that Fujigaya tried the same, but who was he kidding, he was way too emotional to keep up a strong and protecting front around him.

He had witnessed the deaths of so many other friends in the war and also here in the village that the burden was getting too heavy. The death of Fuma, Ryosuke’s betrayal, the loss of Myuto, Keichiro… the list was getting too long.

"I don't want anyone else to leave my side. I can't take this anymore."

"I know and I would love to tell you that everything will be alright, but I don't want to lie to you."

"Please just tell me that you and the others will stay with us."

"Of course, you know that we are the super quartet, no one has a chance against us."

Taiga escaped a chuckle on Junno's way too obvious played self-confidence.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"No I would never do that."

Taiga was happy that he finally had had the chance to take care of bis own pain. Junno was of course the one to realize it first, his power of presence sensing was working on emotions as well and who wouldn't have felt his confusion and sorrow, if not him.

***

“For how much longer will they stay inside there?”

“Are you even sure that they are still alive?”

Wataru and Taiga looked questioning at Kame, but he just smiled shaking his head.

“I don’t think I can feel the presence of ghosts, so yes they are still alive, Wataru!”

“At least something.”

“So are we going to do something?” Taiga asked obviously worried about his brother.

“For now just leave them alone, they’ll come to us when they are ready.”

“Or when they are out of food and water.”

Kame and Taiga gave him the same glare, but Wataru just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

“What?”

“For now let’s get on patrol, let’s see if they moved on their own till the evening.”

They nodded and met up with the others in front of the city hall.

“So I go with Yuma, Hasshi and Hokuto to the southern border. Nakamaru you take Wataru, Senga and Kawai with you to the west.” Kamenashi announced.

“Oh no, why do I have to take Kawai with me?”

“Hey, what do you have against me?”

“Nothing in particular, but at the moment you jump into everyone’s arms when you hear a sound, because you think it is Kame finally sneaking up on you for your still outstanding punishment.”

Kawai opened his mouth to reply something, but closed it right away, knowing that he was right.

“Maybe this is the reason why I send him with you, so he won’t know when I approach him in the woods.”

Kame’s lopsided smile made Kawai jump back and hide behind Nakamaru.

“Don’t you dare to leave me just one minute alone!”

“Who says that I am not part of his plan?”

“Oh great, thanks pretty much. Now I feel so safe around all of you!” Kawai pointed out into the round and no one could hide their mocking smiles.

Taiga wasn’t sure if he should be angry at Kawai or not. All this mess between his brother and Nikaido was partly his fault and also Yuma’s, but on the other hand he knew it was for his brother’s best to finally find out what was up with his new powers. Who would have imagined that it could turn out this way?

“Junno, Goseki, Kishi and Aran, you go for the north.” Kame turned to Junno directly before continuing. “Just try to sense if Ueda and Yasui are around, don’t try to bring them back, they will return on their own, if they want.”

Taiga was not really paying much attention as everyone left for the patrol as usual. But then Junno put his hand on his shoulder, making him look up at him.

“You should go to sleep for now, it’s still so early and you didn’t get to sleep at all last night.”

“You didn’t either. Do you think it is a good idea to go for a patrol now?”

“Don’t worry, with 4 people it will be fine and we are going for the north anyways. If you want to worry for someone, worry for Kawai.”

They both had to smile as they saw how he was walking between Senga and Wataru, but was still looking over to Kame who had already reached the forest on the southern side and vanished with the rest of his team between the trees.

“Just be careful, all of you!”

Junno put his hand into Taiga’s hair and ruffles through it smiling brightly at him.

“As always! See you later!” He waved at him as he followed the others which were already leaving towards the border.

For a while Taiga really thought about just trying to sleep, but he had too much on his mind to sleep now. He was worried about his brother and Nikaido, about Yasui and Ueda leaving like this and about everyone who went out for patrol those days.

Miyata and Kento left for Miyata’s house, Kento happily talking about Fuma’s awesome healing powers, but also about Fuma’s lag of patience so that he had never realized it. Totsu and Tsukada were also talking lively, walking over to the training ground, while Tegoshi and Massu decided to patrol around the village boundary.

So in the end Taiga was left alone again, but for now it fit his mood even better this way. The voices in his head, which were telling him over and over again how messed up the whole situation was at the moment were annoying enough, he wouldn’t need real people to tell him the same.

He had walked over to the rock formation on which his brother and Nikaido sat so often and lay down on it. He looked over the village deep in his thoughts and finally he found some peace and he drifted off into a light sleep.

He got woken up by a huge impact and shaking ground. He needed a moment to realize that it was not a dream. He jumped up and as he turned towards the southern border he saw smoke rising from the forest.

“What’s going on? Are they alright?” Taiga had found himself back inside the village with everyone before he even realized he had started running.

“They are already too far away, I can’t sense them.” Tegoshi said worried, shaking his head.

Then there was another huge impact and another one. Kento looked already terrified, hugging himself while Massu looked at Tegoshi with a determined look. Taiga knew exactly what his silent question towards Tegoshi meant. Tegoshi just nodded before he turned around.

“Totsu, Tsuka-chan, I leave the village in your care until we come back!”

They just nodded and Tegoshi and Massu vanished inside the forest so fast that they were out of sight in barely a minute.

“Is everything alright?”

Taiga stared at Kento who was standing right next to him, but he hadn’t said anything. He needed a moment to realize whose voice it was. Everyone else turned with him as they faced Nikaido and Fujigaya standing there like they would have just woken up like every other morning.

Taiga wasn’t sure if he should shout at them that nothing was fine or hug them because they seemed to try not to let their sorrow show too much.

“A few problems at the southern border, it seems.” Totsu answered.

“Who is down there?” Nikaido asked obviously worried, but before anyone could say something stupid Taiga answered.

“Kame and a few others. Yasui is in the north with Ueda, Junno and a few others, so don’t worry.” Taiga could see Miyata nodding with a brief smile on his face, obviously approving his emergency lie. “Tegoshi and Massu just left for the south to help-“

Another huge impact was heard, but the smoke which rose this time was coming from another direction.

“What the hell is going on?” Tsukada asked while looking worried towards the western border.

“I’m not sure, but we should maybe go and give them some backup. If they attacked in the south and the west already we have to make sure that they are not making their way towards our boundary or even further northwards.” Totsu replied, shifting uncomfortable looking from one border to the other like he wasn’t sure what to do.

“Would they really come up here and attack like this? Sure we let one of them escape, but would they really attack all around the village like this even though they should already know our location?” Nikaido asked, but he could see that the others couldn’t give him an answer either.

“The attack is now almost a month ago, so who knows what kind of weapons they have now, they might have just waited for us to split up like this.” Taiga added worried. “Maybe Kame was right, maybe we should have attacked sooner already, being faster than them.”

It surprised not just Fujigaya to hear that from Taiga, but wasn’t he right? Now that they had waited for so long, they were the ones driven into a corner.

“For now we should try to what we can. Totsu, Tsukada, it might be the best when you go for the western border and help them and get them back. Whatever is going on, it would be the best when we are all back here in the village.”

To everyone’s surprise it was Nikaido who took the command, but who else was there to do. Fujigaya was more than over challenged with his own problems, Taiga still too young, Totsu and Tsukada were needed in the battle and Kento and Miyata had to stay safe inside just in case someone came back wounded.

After Nikaido had given everyone their tasks Totsu and Tsukada finally rushed off to the west.

When they were out of sight there was another explosion, but it seemed smaller and no smoke was seen.

"Did that just come from the north?" Taiga asked as everyone thought the same but didn't dare to ask.

"We can just hope that they are all okay for now. We can't send anyone else out the village."

Everyone was surprised by Nikaido's decision, because he still thought that Kentaro was with them and even though, he decided to wait. Fujigaya and Taiga shared a brief look knowing that Nikaido was definitely not wanting to do what he had just said, but they all knew better than tell him to go. Truth was that they couldn't do anything at the moment without risking everyone's lives.

Half an hour had passed and no other explosion was heard until now, but Taiga was still restless, his eyes fixed on the north, hoping that they would come back soon. At the moment the only Phenomenists left in the village were Kento and Fujigaya and Taiga knew that they couldn’t hold the village against any intruders at this point.

Then he saw a movement in the forest on the northern boundary. He was already about to run towards it, when he suddenly realized that they weren’t returning alone and definitely not on their free will. But then he realized something even worse, Junno and Goseki were missing!

 


	43. No way out

Their look fell on Kishi and Aran which were dragged towards them from three unknown men.

“Shit, bad timing.” Nikaido said as he and Fujigaya automatically stepped in front of Taiga, which had gone completely pale in the matters of seconds through the scene in front of him. The man which dragged Aran with him pointed a gun to his head, while the one who took a hold on Kishi had a few problems making him move forward. Kishi had a really bad looking wound from his shoulder down his arm, which was obviously caused by the blade the man carried. He looked completely exhausted. It was a miracle that he was still able to walk. He might have enough strength left to break free somehow, but his eyes went to Aran all the time, obviously not fighting back so that he wouldn’t get hurt. But what made Taiga worry the most was that it was just the two of them.

“What’s going on? Oh god, Kishi! Aran!” Kento and Miyata came running around the corner, but as Kento tried to pass Nikaido he stopped him.

“Don’t do anything stupid. If we attack them now, they might kill them.”

“We will, trust me!” The man walking in front said with a lopsided smile, stopping in front of Nikaido, but he kept his distance, obviously not sure who of them was a Phenomenist and who wasn’t.

“What do you want?” Nikaido hissed at him, trying not to shout at him, but it was hard not to lose it.

“Oh you really have to ask? Mhh let me think. You are a village full of some weird freaks, threatening the city. What could we want?”

“We are not threatening the city, you are the ones which came here to attack us!” Fujigaya let out and a small crack appeared in front of the man’s feet.

“Oh so there we have our first freak already losing it.”

“Trust me, when I am losing it, it looks different.”

“Gaya, shut up!” Nikaido hissed at him. Fujigaya knew he would make everything even worse when he would let himself get provoked now, but that man’s face showed so much arrogance that he really wanted to just drop him in a deep hole.

“Sho, would you already come to the point, this boy gets heavy! I am not in the mood to carry him all the time.” The man holding Kishi up with much effort scolded him.

“Nino would you stop being so whiny?” The one with the gun said with a kind of dangerous smile, as if you would never know when he would attack his own people out of some stupid reason.

“Then switch hostages with me Jun! Yours seems to be really easy to handle!”

Anger rose inside of Taiga, while they were speaking of them as they would be nothing like puppets they carried around. Aran and Taiga’s eyes met and he could see so much fear in his eyes. He knew this feeling, it was the same feeling he had gone through as Mitsu had died and he was too weak to help and this fear in his eyes made him realize the cruel truth.

“They are dead!” Taiga let out without even realizing it and all eyes fell on him.

“Taiga, what do you mean?” Fujigaya asked, taking a few steps back to hold his younger brother on the shoulders.

“You killed them!” Taiga looked up at Sho and he just smiled at him as he realized about who the boy was talking.

“I bet they were good fighters, but they weren’t prepared for our ambush and they walked in front, if the boys would have been in front they would have been the dead ones. Don’t worry, it was fast and okay maybe not painless, but at least fast.”

The tears were glittering in Taiga’s eyes, but he wouldn’t allow them to fall.

“No, you can’t be serious…” Finally the others realized that they were talking about Junno and Goseki. Until now they thought they had split up, what was not an unusual move at the northern border, because they didn’t expect the enemy to walk all around to the north to attack from that direction. It was their mistake to be so careless.

"Kentaro-" On Nikaido's panicked voice Taiga forced himself to get a grip again.

"Calm down Nikaido, Kentaro is fine. He wasn't with them from the beginning. He is with Ueda."

“What, but you said-"

"Details later. For now you don't have to worry." At least Taiga hoped so, because they couldn't be sure that they didn't run into them as well.

“As much as I like it to see you suffer, I would like to go back to business.” Sho interfered, addressing Nikaido. “We want our other comrades back.”

“What? You got one of them back. He was the only one who had fled.”

“And the rest? You want to tell me, that you killed them all?”

Nikaido tried to get a plan ready in his head before answering, but he wasn’t sure if lying was a good idea. On the other hand, he didn’t want to hand them over.

“As if you would let them go when we hand them over.” Fujigaya interfered before Nikaido could stop him from talking.

“Who said that? You know we are no monsters, we will let him live.” Sho pointed at Aran, which looked over to Kishi in panic instead of facing him. “But the other boy is a Phenomenist and we can’t let him live, sorry. We just brought him with us, because it was better to have two instead of one hostage.”

Without a warning a huge line of fire spread between the Realitists and them and Nikaido and Sho had to jump backwards to not get burned.   

Nino pulled Kishi up and put his blade towards his throat out of reflex and Kishi screamed out as the blade cut over it.

“No, stop! We are not attacking you!” Nikaido tried to calm them down before turning around to Kento, who was standing behind him with clenched shaking fists. But his eyes showed pure panic as he realized that it was him who had lost control and risked their friends’ lives.

Miyata dragged him away from them a little bit. He knew they wouldn’t let them get out of sight, but he tried to calm Kento down, so he wouldn’t lose it again.

“So we have another one. Anyone else of you a Phenomenist?” Sho asked interested, pointing from one to the other, but no one was answering. “Oh come on don’t be like this. I told you we will let the humans live, but as I see it there are just you three and him.” Sho pointed from Nikaido to Taiga and Miyata before turning to Aran. “But that is of course just when you hand over our comrades.

“Not when you don’t promise to leave the others alone as well.”

Sho started laughing on Nikaido’s condition.

“Boy you know, I’ve seen those freaks using their powers to kill and I spend so much effort to hunt them all down and I won’t stop, just because a few blind and naïve humans still think they are not a threat.”

“It’s just natural that we defend ourselves when you attack.” Fujigaya shouted at him.

“Okay enough words, get them here or we will kill them.” Jun was finally interfering obviously bored by their conversation. He unlocked his gun and pointed it against Aran’s head again. “I give you two minutes to get them here or I will shoot him.”

Nikaido turned around to the others, but Taiga was a complete mess already, obviously not capable of making any decisions anymore. Miyata had his hands full with calming down Kento, so the only one who could help him right now was Fujigaya.

“What do we do?”

“I’m not sure. I-“ Fujigaya was as over challenged with the situation as everyone else.

“30 seconds have already passed.” Jun shouted over to them.

“Damn! Okay, we will get them!” Nikaido shouted back at them and before someone could even get against his decision he ran over to the cells and freed the Realitists which they had captured and not killed, because Wataru wanted to keep them for interrogation. But they didn’t give any useful information about the city until now, even with Ueda’s and Nakamaru’s questionings.

“Okay this is the most awesome scene ever!” Fukka laughed as he walked over to Sho and the others, obviously enjoying seeing the people of the village being outnumbered and surrounded.

“No it is boring, I still have to settle something with this gorilla boy, but he doesn’t seem to be here.” Yara let out disappointed moving behind Nino and Jun together with Akito and Junta.

“It seems like we have more luck.” Iwamoto let out as he walked over to Aran, grabbing him by the hair so that he let out a hiss as he forced his head up. “It seems like it is finally payback time."

Iwamoto punched him into the stomach and Jun let go of him as he fell to his knees.

“Leave him alone!” Kishi finally found some energy to start fighting back, but it was already too late.

His eyes met Aran’s, but the scream Aran let out as he looked back at him with wide eyes never reached him, as Nino sliced his throat without any kind of hesitation.

“NO!” Aran’s desperate scream made everyone finally take action.

Nikaido knew that this was his fault, but what had he been supposed to do? If he hadn’t freed them, they would have killed both of them already, maybe all of them.

But he hadn’t calculated Aran’s reaction as he jumped up and twisted the gun out of Jun’s hand so fast that no one could even react. He swirled around and shot first Jun and then Iwamoto.

“And I wanted to be so nice and let you live.” Sho said in a calm voice even though he had just lost two of his companions. Before Aran could turn to shoot someone else Fukka had thrown him to the ground the gun now lying a few meters away from everyone.

Sho wanted to walk over to get it, but a fire wall appeared so sudden in front of him that his arms got burned as he tried to reach it. He cursed as he jumped back and looked alongside the burning ground until his eyes met Kento’s.

“You little brat, you are the next on my list!”

Nino had let Kishi’s dead body drop to the ground and approached Aran who was still pinned to the ground with Fukka sitting on top of him.

“Gaya! Do something!” Nikaido had grabbed him by the shoulders as he did nothing, but stare at the scene in front of him. “Gaya, please! You are the only one who can stop them right now!” Nikaido begged him, but even if he wanted to, his powers weren’t really listening to him at the moment.

“WATCH OUT!” Taiga’s voice reached them too late and Fujigaya needed a moment to realize why Nikaido’s body got heavy in his arms. He looked at him with wide eyes before he slid to the ground and Fujigaya screamed out as he saw a knife stuck in his back.

Junta had taken the knife which was stuck to Jun’s belt and had thrown it at Nikaido.

“Taiga, run!” This time it was Miyata who was shouting and time seemed to stop for a second as Fujigaya realized that Yara had taken the gun from the ground pointing it at Taiga.

Meanwhile Sho had taken a run up at Kento, which had already used too much power and couldn’t defend himself anymore. Miyata wasn’t a fighter, but he had automatically jumped in between him and Sho. Kento screamed out as Sho’s blade sliced over Miyata’s chest.

Yara shot, Sho aimed for Kento and Nino lunged out with his sword for Aran as Fujigaya finally got a grip. Even if he was afraid to lose it again and attack his own friends, if he wouldn’t do anything, they would all die right here, right now.

He trapped Sho in a crytalile cell and had thrown Nino, Akito and Fukka several meters away from Aran before he let Yara and Junta drop in a huge crack. But something felt wrong, there was something that made him feel like he had failed and then he realized what it was. He had saved Kento right before Sho could attack him and Aran was also fine, but as he turned around he saw Taiga lying on the ground. He hadn’t reacted in time and Yara had shot before he could stop him.

Fujigaya looked at his little brother in shock. He couldn’t have just lost his other brother as well, could he? His eyes wandered down to his feet were Nikaido had also collapsed to the ground.

“Fujigaya!” It was Kento’s panicked voice which was heard, but even though he realized that the cell around Sho was crumbling he couldn’t stop it. He had completely frozen to the spot. He had reacted too late and while Kento was trying to get away from Sho before the cell would completely crumble Fujigaya fell on his knees not even realizing that Nino and the others were back on their feet and about to attack. Aran had somehow got back on his feet, now trying to reach out for any kind of weapon he could pick up, but Akito and Fukka were about to attack him.

Fujigaya slowly looked up at Sho which had stepped out of the cell which had crumbled in itself.

“Oh don’t look so disappointed, you will soon join them.” Sho said with another arrogant smile before he turned to Kento, who fell backwards on the ground trying to crawl away from him. Fujigaya wanted to help, but his body was completely numb and then there was a hand in his hair forcing his head back.

It was Nino who put his sword in front of his throat ready to slice it, but it never reached Fujigaya’s skin.

He heard Nino scream as a wind gust crashed him into a building. Sho could barely turn around in time to see the water front coming at him. The water was lifting him off his feet and slammed him into the ground a few dozen meters away from them.

“KENTARO! UEDA!” Kento shouted out for them, but Fujigaya had no energy left to even turn around. His hand moved on Nikaido’s shoulder while his eyes slowly moved towards Taiga. He heard the fighting around him and he could tell that Ueda and Kentaro were winning the battle, the presence of the others vanishing one by one and finally Ueda reached out for him.

“Taisuke, can you hear me? TAISUKE!” He looked up at him, but he couldn’t even form any kind of words anymore.

“NII-SAN!”

Fujigaya’s look fell on Kentaro who was shaking his brother on the shoulders, but he couldn’t keep looking knowing that this was his fault.

“I wasn’t fast enough. I couldn’t-“ Finally a tear dropped to the ground. It wasn’t like he had tried to hold his emotions back, but it seemed like reality needed some time to catch up with him and now it crashed down on him with so much force that he bend over, his hands in his hair, a scream so loud that it hurt leaving his lungs.

He had seen how Ueda had rushed over to Taiga and how Kento was sitting down next to Miyata, but he couldn’t take it anymore. He was about to lose it and his body finally lost consciousness which was definitely for the best. He could face the cruel reality after waking up again.


	44. what remains

Kishi’s dead body, Aran’s desperate screams, Nikaido’s unmoving body on the ground, his brother’s shouting and then the shot. The pain and the numbness were his last memories before he had blacked out.

He looked up at the ceiling, he didn’t want to remember, but before he could even stop his thoughts, his memories were crushing onto him and in silence one after the other tear escaped his eyes dropping onto the pillow.

“Taiga?”

He turned his head and his eyes fell on Tegoshi, who looked at him with a brief smile before stroking over his cheek to brush away his tears.

“Finally you are awake. How are you feeling?”

Taiga wasn’t sure if he should just freak out or try to stay calm and ask what had happened after he had blacked out.  But Tegoshi made his decision easier as he helped him sit up and gave him a long comforting hug. Taiga was more than grateful that it was Tegoshi, who was with him right now, because he was the one who understood everyone’s feelings the best. Taiga closed his arms around him and rested his forehead on his shoulder.

“Kishi is-“

“I know.”

“And the others? Nikaido was already-, and my brother-“

His voice broke and he tried hard to not lose it.

“Your brother is fine.”

This was what he wanted to hear the most even though he knew it was egoistic, but he wouldn’t have been able to lose his other brother as well.

“And the others?”

“Aran and Kento are still under a shock, but they will be fine eventually. Nikaido was rescued at the last moment by Yasui, while Ueda rescued you.”

He waited for Tegoshi to continue, but he didn’t and as he clenched his hands into Tegoshi’s shirt the latter took a shaking breath signaling him that what he thought was true.

“Miyata wasn’t even a fighter.” Taiga let out in a low voice.

“He protected Kento.”

Taiga just nodded against his shoulder, it was just a small comfort, but at least something.

“How long was I asleep?” Taiga asked letting go of Tegoshi to sit back.

“Three days. Kame, Nakamaru, Massu and I healed you and Nikaido as fast as possible.”

“Why?” He knew that it was dangerous to heal such deep wounds in such a short time with just the four of them.

“Wataru finally gave Kame the go for his invading plan.”

Taiga didn’t know what to say, he hadn’t really thought about it until now knowing that Wataru was against it, but after what had happened he couldn’t blame Wataru for changing his mind.

The death of Miyata wasn’t just hard for Wataru, it was hard for Taiga to understand as well. Miyata was always the one to cheer everyone up, when they were wounded and stuck in his house for days or even weeks. Now his house felt so empty and cold.

“Junno and Goseki-“ Taiga didn’t dare to form a whole sentence, but Tegoshi knew already what he wanted to ask.

“It was a trap. There was no way we could have known.”

Taiga could see that Tegoshi didn’t want to go into the details, but he needed to know. So as Tegoshi looked up again he sighed obviously reading Taiga’s thoughts through his expression.

“The explosions and the fire we saw from the village were set up. We think that there were at least two other Realitists around, which helped with their plan. While the other three attacked from the only area we wouldn’t think of, they made us leave the village unprotected to help our friends, which weren’t even in danger.”

“So the explosions were not even close to our troops?”

“No they didn’t want to attack on the other sides, obviously knowing that our patrol would be stronger and more careful over there.”

“Junno was also strong.” Taiga let out in a low voice.

“I know, but Aran told us what happened and not even Kame or I could have survived the attack. Aran is not really in the state to tell us everything, but from what he could remember it could have been him and Kishi in the first place, if they would have walked in front. No one had expected Realitists setting up a trap in the north.”

“But Junno can sense people so easily.”

“That was the problem in the first place. Junno had told them that he felt a presence on both their sides, but still not close enough to be of any danger. Like this they had drawn his attention to one of them and Goseki’s to the other one. They didn’t even realize the trap hidden between the trees until it was too late.”

Tegoshi paused for a moment not sure if he should continue seeing how pale Taiga had gone, but he was still looking at him obviously not ready to let him skip the rest.

“The others were lifted off their feet through the impact and the last thing Aran saw was how Junno raised a stone wall between himself and them before he hit the ground and-“

“Stop.” Taiga shook his head, slowly taking his eyes off Tegoshi. He knew the rest of the story. There was no way they would have just hidden one bomb there and Junno knew that. So in the end Taiga couldn’t even be angry at him for breaking his promise, because he saved two of his friends. He couldn’t know that one of them would die later as well.

Tegoshi reached out for his cheek and he flinched a little bit on the touch. New tears were running down his cheeks and again Tegoshi was there to stop them.

“Do you want to sleep a little bit more?” Tegoshi asked neutral with a light smile on his face. It would have maybe made someone else angry, but Taiga knew that Tegoshi’s smile was just a mask. He felt as helpless and angry as everyone else did. But he was one of the people which had to lead, which had to keep everyone safe. So while Kame put on a stone mask and Wataru a mask of rejection, Tegoshi put on a mask with a warm smile and as long as their masks wouldn’t fall, hope was still there.

***

He couldn't believe that he had to go through this again. He was standing in front of their bodies like he already did so often since the war had started. As always they had collected wood and placed them on top of the altar shaped construct. Even the bodies of the Realitists were going to get a proper farewell. It was a rule established by Mitsu, he had said ‘in death we are all the same’ and Wataru was carrying on with his philosophy.

They were wrapped in a white sheet and for Taiga it was definitely the best this way. He had felt nauseous since they had told him that they would proceed with their funeral as soon as he was alright to stand up and that had been in the evening already.

Nikaido and Yasui were the only ones not gathered. After Nikaido had woken up, he had left for his house right away and had thrown everyone out who tried to enter, just his little brother was allowed inside. Taiga couldn't blame him, he knew how he must feel and as cruel it sounded taking care of Nikaido had to wait until they gave them their last farewell.

Even Fujigaya had come, although he looked more than uncomfortable to be around. He had cried a lot as he had been finally allowed to see Taiga. He wouldn't stop apologizing and Taiga would scold him later for loading all that happened on his shoulders again. Fujigaya had almost ripped apart his house before out of worry for Taiga and of course Nikaido, because he didn’t want to let him inside his house. Of course he blamed himself for the death of their friends as well, not even Wataru could calm him down completely, so he had brought him to the training ground until he was on the edge of fainting. Now he was standing next to him his arm around Wataru's shoulder, because he was still in a bad shape through his outburst earlier.

But the ones which looked the worst were Kame and Kawai. They were completely pale and it was not just because they were the leaders around there small troops and had lost precious friends, but also because they were the ones to receive their bodies from the forest. Just the thought of it made Taiga feel even worse than he already did. They had been killed through an explosion as much as he knew and Aran breaking down earlier as they had brought the bodies already covered in the sheets made clear how horrible it must have been for him.

After the bombs had gone off the three Realitists had approached fast and Kishi had hit the ground as hard as Aran after the explosion, so his try to defend both of them as they had attacked ended with Nino defeating him and stabbing through his shoulder with his sword before he could even properly use his powers.

Hokuto hadn't left the younger one’s side the moment he had returned to the village, at least this is what Taiga had heard. He had lost Myuto already and the loss of Kishi right in front of his eyes was an even crueler memory, which would haunt him forever. Aran’s eyes didn't leave Kishi's body even once since they had all gathered here.

"Let's begin." Kame voiced out finally taking a step forward to take the cresset in front of Junno’s body. Kawai stepped forward to Goseki’s body, while Aran and Hokuto went to Kishi. Senga made his way over to Miyata together with Kento. Taiga didn't need sensing powers to know that Kento also felt responsible for Miyata's death. At the moment Taiga was even happy that he had no powers at all. He could see how hard it was for everyone to calm down, but the first dark clouds were already gathering and a huge thunder was heard. They all knew that they had to be strong until the ceremony was over. The least they would need was rain.

Yuma and a few of the others went to the bodies of the Realitists. Even though they wouldn't morn for them they would at least give them a decent send-off.

"Another fight, another loss. Our friends have left our side, but they will never leave our hearts." As Kame started talking in a forced steady voice Taiga started moving forward slowly. It wasn't the first time. He had bid his farewells like this to Mitsu, Fuma, Keichiro, Myuto, Ryosuke and many others over the years here in this village, but it was the first time after his brother's death that it hit him so unprepared.

"We will bit you farewell and pray for you and think of you until we join with you again."

Taiga had reached Junno's body and stopped a step away from Kame, which looked at him for a brief moment. As Taiga looked up to all the other bodies he finally felt the first tear running down his cheek. Kame put his hand on his shoulder, before he looked up again.

"Let's sent them off with all our beautiful memories of them forever remaining in our hearts."

Kame lowered his cresset first and the wood and straw caught fire immediately, but Taiga wouldn't step back. He watched as the others spoke their last farewells as well before lowering their cressets.

Taiga let another tear escape his eye before he finally found his voice again.

"You said it would be fine! You said you would not leave me like the others! You promised to come back. Why did you lie to me?" His voice got lower with every word and broke with his last sentence. He felt how Kame squeezed his shoulder and as Taiga's emotions were about to make him break down he pulled him into a hug. What he said then was something that someone who didn't know them would think of as completely rude, but it made a small almost invisible smile appear on Taiga's face, because he understood.

"You know, Junno's jokes have never been funny."


	45. Mourning

 

"You should at least go and sent them off."

"Right, because I would leave you alone, so that you can do something stupid."

"I won't do something stupid," Nikaido growled at his little brother, after he had tried to make him go to their friends’ funeral.

"Nii-san, you know Junno-" he cleared his throat as he realized how unreal it sounded to say his name. He took deep breath before continuing.

"While Hasshi taught me the water control, Junno taught me more about presence sensing. He taught me how to feel emotions instead of just the presence and to be honest yours are giving me the creeps right now." His tone wasn't scolding, but Nikaido couldn't blame him even if it would have been.

"You are not responsible for their deaths!" Taiga continued sitting down next to his brother on the bed.

"Tell that to them. You haven't seen Kishi's terrified face, before-" His voice broke for a moment and he took a shaking breath. "And Aran… he will never forgive me."

"You saved his life!"

"But for what price? Because I let the others out of their cells they were overpowering us, if I wouldn't have panicked like this, if I wouldn't have done what they demanded, then-"

“Then Aran would be dead as well and who knows who else would have died."

"But Miyata-"

"Wasn't a fighter, yes. But he was an adult and a good friend of all of us. He saved Kento with his actions, we should be grateful to him, even if it hurts." Kentaro was amazed by his own words. Just a few months ago he would have broken down and freaked out over every emotional matter and now he had to talk sense into his older brother. The training with Tegoshi, Hasshi and all the others had not just made his control of his powers better and stronger, but also strengthened his willpower.

"If you want to blame someone, blame me and Ueda, because we came too late. Ueda sensed that Junno's and Goseki's presence were gone and we rushed back to the village as fast as we could." On the thought he was kind of happy that they hadn't stumbled over their bodies back then, who knew how much it would have affected them. Like this they had attacked right away and Ueda had killed all of the remaining Realitists without even hesitating. He couldn't blame him, he already knew that they had lost two of their friends and seeing Kishi and also thinking that Taiga and Nikaido were also dead had given both of them enough reason to get violent.

"Why weren't you with the others in the first place?"

Kentaro hadn't told him about him following Ueda, but it wasn't the time to discuss it.

"Long story. The same as yours and Fujigaya's, I guess?"

Nikaido lowered his head on this topic, moving his fingers slowly through his hair. Kentaro had just heard a few things from Yuma about what had happened after Fujigaya had woken up again. The rest of the story still remained a mystery.

"You don't have to speak about it now, but remember I am here for you all the time." Kentaro stroke over his back and his brother shivered under his caring touch. Before Kentaro could say anything else Nikaido had sat up and pulled him into a hug, resting his chin on his little brother’s hair.

"I'm so sorry!"

"For what?"

"For not being able to give you the life back we had before the war. A calm life, without us losing all the important friends around us and being in danger of losing our own lives all the time."

Kentaro grabbed the back of his brother's shirt, resting his chin on his shoulder. He had to take another deep breath so that his voice wouldn't start shaking.

"I told you to stop blaming yourself for everything that happened."

"I'm sorry."

Kentaro shook his head slightly, the tears now glittering in his eyes.

"Don't be. We met so many awesome people like this. I met Ueda and you met Fujigaya!" On his name Nikaido shivered in Kentaro's arms.

"Please Nii-san, can you promise me something?"

"Mh?" Kentaro could feel that Nikaido tried to hide his sobs and speaking wouldn't be helpful.

"Please don't stop fighting for yourself and Fujigaya, okay? You went through a lot, I know. But your relationship started with pure hate and mistrust, do you remember?"

Nikaido escaped a small almost inaudible chuckle.

"After what you two went through and how you have changed each other’s lives, wouldn't it be unfair to just end it like this?"

He felt the light movement of his brother's head. He pulled him even tighter into his embrace and even though it was almost too tight Kentaro wouldn't complain. He had told him that he would be there when he needed him and right now he needed him more than ever!

***

"Thank you Watta, you can go now if you want. I promise I won't destroy anything."

"Sorry, Taisuke, but you know as good as me that this promise is impossible to keep when it comes to you."

"Also true."

After the send-off they had split up, everyone needing some time for themselves. The only thing that worried Fujigaya was that Taiga had told him that he wanted to be alone for a while. It was the first time that Taiga didn't stand by his side after something like this. But on the other hand he needed some time for himself as well, but it seemed like Wataru wouldn't intend to leave soon, even as Fujigaya lay down on his bed.

"So are you going to end up like Nikaido?"

"What?" On Wataru's sudden question he sat up again, looking at him questioning.

"The only reason why Nikaido is locking himself away at the moment is because he blames himself for what happened. Are you also blaming yourself?"

His direct question made him struggle for words.

"If I would have attacked sooner Miyata wouldn't have died and Taiga and Nikaido wouldn't have gotten hurt. If I would be able to control my crytalile powers better I would have been able to save Kishi as well." Fujigaya's voice got lower and the guilt took over him again as his eyes got dark. "If I wouldn't have been so afraid of my own powers, if I would have-" he grabbed his own hair as he lowered his head, his breathing pace speeding up. Then a crack appeared on the wall next to him and Wataru finally interfered, pulling him into a hug.

"Calm down, you promised not to destroy anything." His tone wasn't mocking and instead of answering, Fujigaya clenched his fists into Wataru's sleeves.

"You can't live with asking you all those' what if' questions. Regretting what happened is one thing, but blaming yourself for it is something that will destroy you bit by bit."

"But I did so many regrettable things already, how am I supposed to just move on and forget it?"

"I'm not telling you to forget. Don't forget about Mitsu, don't forget how you felt after your powers made you do things you regretted afterwards and never forget how it felt to see someone dying in front of your eyes."

Wataru's words were harsh but necessary and even though it was hard to accept they were true as well.

"You have to remember so you can do what you didn't do before."

Fujigaya didn't answer instead he just nodded, his head resting against Wataru's chest.

But when he felt Wataru's chest moving and he heard a small chuckle from him he looked up.

"What is it?" Fujigaya asked confused, because Wataru was normally not the person to try changing the atmosphere by playing happy. But his smile told Fujigaya that he wasn't making fun out of the situation.

"You know, I really get why you and Nikaido are the perfect match!"

"Eh?"

"You are really different that is for sure, but when it is about feeling guilty you two are exactly the same. I bet Nikaido is sitting right next to Kentaro as you are sitting here with me right now."

"With the difference that you are not my brother."

"But close enough to one." Wataru said in a teasing tone and finally he got a small smile from Fujigaya as well.

"I wonder why he chose to be alone this time!"

"Taiga?"

"Yes, I feel a bit worried that he is angry at me for not protecting him."

Wataru flicked his finger against Fujigaya's forehead on which the other one let out a surprised gasp.

"Don't always be so negative, just give him some time. Maybe it is the best for him to cure his own heart, before he cares for everyone else's again."

"Yes he really has to take care of himself better and I should start to do so as well."

***

Taiga knew that it was not the best decision to leave the village and go alone to the river, but he needed some space. But when he arrived he realized that he wasn’t the only one to do so. He saw Aran sitting at the side of the river starring on the surface with empty eyes. For a moment Taiga thought about leaving again, because Hokuto also wasn’t here, which meant that the boy wanted to be alone, but when he made a step backwards and the stones under his feet made a cracking noise Aran turned towards him with wide eyes as if he would have ripped him out of a deep sleep.

“Sorry I didn’t want to scare you.”

“Don’t worry. It’s okay.” His voice was low and Taiga could hear that he had cried.

“You mind if I join you for a while?”

“No, not at all.”

Taiga sat down next to him and for a moment they stood silent, but to Taiga’s surprise it was Aran who broke the silence with a confession.

“You know, I will forever regret that I never told him that I loved him.”

Taiga blinked a few times, but didn’t say anything. It was not that he didn’t know that at least Kishi had felt something special for Aran, that had been more than obvious all the time, but it was the first time that Aran talked about it.

“Sure for our power exchange we had to kiss, because Kishi wasn’t good in transferring it over the skin even after the training with Kawai.” He let out a small chuckle before continuing. “But to be honest I bet he just pretended he couldn’t do it, so we had to kiss.”

Taiga let out a small chuckle as well, knowing that he was definitely right.

“I remember the day I came to the village with Myuto. It was right after your brother had died and no one wanted to trust us, except for Kishi.”

Taiga felt guilt rising in him remembering this time. Even he himself couldn’t trust them from the beginning. Mitsu’s death had just been a few days ago and the whole village had been a big mess.

“It was Kishi, who convinced Wataru to let us stay. He took full responsibility and let us stay in his house, even though he was so young and so unexperienced with his powers. I can’t believe that I lost both of them in such a short time. Myuto was like an older brother to me. We had been friends long before the war and then as I finally found someone like Kishi, someone I could even share deeper feelings with I was too stupid and maybe too proud to tell him and now I will never be able to.”

Taiga put his hand on Aran’s shoulder comforting and even though he ended up being the one comforting someone else again instead of getting comfort himself he didn’t mind. Because he was such a good listener everyone would talk to him about their worries and Taiga knew that everyone was there for him as well to comfort him. Junno had done so and Tegoshi as well. And even though Fujigaya was really bad in it, he tried his best to care for him too.

For now they could all just try to move on and prepare for their biggest battle and even though no one would say it out loud maybe also their biggest loss!


	46. Dangerous Intentions

„Tsukada, Totsu and Ueda will get the rest of our people from the north.” Kame announced two days later as they all gathered in the city hall.

Wataru didn’t seem too convinced about his own change of mind, but he had already said that he wouldn’t force anyone to fight. Everyone had been free to leave the meeting, if they didn’t want to fight, but to no one’s surprise every one of them stayed, listening to Kame’s and Totsu’s invading plan.

“We will try to be as fast and possible, hopefully we can be back in two days!” Ueda said already getting up.

“Be careful and when you think that there could be another attack don’t risk anything. Come back and report, okay?” Nakamaru warned all three of them as they were about to leave the city hall.

Everyone else looked at them in silence, but Kentaro shifted nervously, but he knew that he couldn’t do anything at the moment, it was not an option to go with them, he wouldn’t be fast enough and he didn’t want to slow them down.

“What are you doing?” Nikaido asked him suddenly making him look from Ueda, who had almost reached the door, towards his brother.

“What do you mean?”

Instead of answering Nikaido pushed him off his chair so that he had to stand up.

“Go after him! I know it feels like it is not much, but telling him to take care will make him happier than you think!”

Kentaro got his brother’s broad hint the moment the three had left the hall and he ran after them knowing that neither Kame nor anyone else would scold him for being absent for a few minutes.

“Ueda!” Kentaro had caught up to them as they were already moving towards the northern border.

“You can already go, I will catch up with you in a minute!” Ueda said towards the other two and they nodded with a light smile before leaving them alone.

Ueda took him by the shoulder and pushed him carefully behind one of the buildings.

“Are you really going to be okay? Is it really safe to go out there with just the three of you? What if-“

Before Kentaro could continue bombarding him with any more questions Ueda had put his arms around the boy’s neck and pulled him into a deep and long kiss. Kentaro responded immediately knowing that each kiss they would share from now on could be their last.

Unwillingly he backed off after another moment not wanting to delay their departure too much.

“Please be careful!” Kentaro said in a low voice as if it would be too dangerous to say it out loud.

“Don’t worry, we will be back soon!” Ueda stroke over the boy’s cheek, giving him a brief smile before he ran after the others, which were waiting for him at the border.

Kentaro could feel that Ueda was as worried as him about the upcoming battle, but even though they all knew that they could all die, they chose to fight. To fight for their future, which would hopefully allow them to finally live in peace again.

***

“Hey, I’m going over to talk to Aran and Hokuto for a while, they didn’t seem to be too happy about the invading plan. Are you okay on your own for a while?”

“Taiga I’m not a child, of course I am!” Even though Fujigaya wanted to sound scolding, he knew that Taiga had all right to be worried about him. He didn’t really speak to anyone the last days except to Taiga and Wataru. But he didn’t want his little brother to worry about him, especially not now that they had other problems, bigger problems!

“How about you take Kento with you as well, he didn’t look to good either!” Nikaido said stepping next to Fujigaya, who didn’t try to avoid him, but didn’t look at him either.

“Good idea. I will also see if I can find Kentaro on my way!” Taiga replied with a brief smile obviously more than happy about Nikaido approaching his brother again.

“You mind if we go to your place for a moment?” Nikaido asked a little bit nervous, but Fujigaya just nodded knowing that he couldn’t start running away again. Of course Kame and the others were watching them, but they also knew that for now they had to solve all this on their own.

“So how have you been the last days?” Nikaido asked straight forward as they arrived at Fujigaya’s house.

“I would love to say I’m fine, but yeah- I guess you know yourself as well how I must feel.”

“It’s not your fault!” Nikaido tried to comfort him, but as he turned towards the table it was Fujigaya who turned him around to face him before he could sit down.

“Either it is yours!” He said in a scolding tone, which surprised himself, but of course he knew that Nikaido was also giving himself the fault for what happened. “We were the only ones left to take responsibility and I was too stupid and too afraid to help you as you needed me! If you want to give someone the fault, then-“

“Gaya, I told you it’s not your fault!”

“But-“

“Stop! I guess this is a dead end!” Nikaido raised his hands shaking his head. For a moment they stayed silent before Nikaido walked over to the bed sitting down with a sigh. “I guess after a tragedy like this everyone searches for someone who is at fault, so it gets easier! But truth is that we have to face reality and truth is that whatever we think the dead ones won’t return and we can’t undo anything that happened.”

Fujigaya nodded almost not visible before sitting down next to Nikaido putting his head on the latter’s shoulder.

“I don’t want to lose anyone again! I don’t want to stay at the sideline and watch, while my friends are getting taken away from me, but I also don’t want to be the one hurting them!”

Nikaido understood his conflict remembering how scared he was of Fujigaya as he tried to kill him. But he didn’t want to just watch the others fight a battle, which was his as well. He had to fight and if he would fight, he would do it together with Fujigaya.

“Do you think we can find a solution somehow?” Fujigaya asked raising his head up again looking at Nikaido questioning.

“Maybe. I guess we have to try. That is if you are willing to!?” Nikaido’s question made Fujigaya look away for a moment. He knew that Nikaido was ready to take the risk of being attacked by him again even though he still seemed scared. But exactly this was what made the decision easier for him, because if Nikaido was willing to take it so far for him, he wouldn’t run away like this.

As Fujigaya looked at him the answer was visible in his eyes and even though fear and insecurity were written on both their faces, the hope to finally being able to end this civil war and move on with their lives in peace was bigger making them finally realize that they had nothing to lose, so they would try everything to fight together in this war.

Fujigaya reached out for the Nikaido’s cheek, stroking with his thumb over his lips so that the latter closed his eyes for a moment. “Let’s try it again!” Fujigaya’s voice gave away no fear and as Nikaido opened his eyes again they met halfway for a kiss. A dangerous kiss, which made both of them tense, but it was Nikaido who stole his powers before Fujigaya could hesitate about transferring them. Nikaido closed his arms around Fujigaya’s neck as the latter tried to move back. Fujigaya had to transfer all his powers and knowing that he would try to automatically stop before that, Nikaido took a tight grip on him not allowing him to back off even as he started struggling. Again Nikaido could feel that his powers were flowing in his body and luckily his body was finally used to the amount of power, so that he wouldn’t give in under the pressure. But as before he couldn’t feel the second power which made him tense even more. As he finally dared to lose the contact to Fujigaya’s lips he jumped up faster than he wanted to, but he couldn’t help it and Fujigaya didn’t seem to mind.

“Did it work?” Nikaido asked kind of afraid as Fujigaya didn’t say anything at first, but then he nodded slowly.

“I guess so, I can feel the crytalile power, but not my other powers. They will need some time to restore now that you took them all.”

“And you are feeling alright?”

“I’m not sure to be honest, something feels weird.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like the crytalile powers are getting stronger now that my other powers are gone and to be honest it doesn’t really feel good, it feels dangerous.”

At least Fujigaya was able to explain what was going on this time now that they could concentrate on it and weren’t in the middle of a fight.

“Maybe we should go and get Kawai, just in case-“

“Nika, what the hell is that?”

Nikaido had already turned towards the door, but on Fujigaya’s frightened voice he turned back towards him and his eyes grew wide as he saw how it happened again. The crytalile formed a second skin around Fujigaya who looked more than dead scared not able to stop it.

“It’s taking over again! Gaya, you have to stop it or you will lose it!” Nikaido tried to stay calm, but seeing that Fujigaya was about to panic he knew that he wouldn’t make it in time. Fujigaya screamed out leaning forward and clenching his fists in his hair. Nikaido wanted to help him, to reach out for him, but he was just too scared.

“Nika, get out!”

“But-“

“GET OUT!” Fujigaya could feel that he wouldn’t be in control of himself for much longer and for now he wanted Nikaido to be safe and get help. They knew the risk of trying this again and even though they still hadn’t an explanation why this happened they could say for sure that taking away all his powers was out of question from now on. “GET KAWAI HERE OR KAME, BUT FOR NOW GET OUT!”

Fujigaya fell to his knees still trying to fight his body, but then from one moment to the other he went completely silent just as Nikaido had rushed to the door and was already about to open it.

“Gaya?” Nikaido asked worried the doorknob still in his hand. As Fujigaya looked up at him a shiver ran down his spin as he saw his empty eyes. The same look as before! He was about to rip the door open to get help, but Fujigaya was faster lifting his hand ready to trap Nikaido in a cell. Luckily Nikaido had realized it in time jumping away from the door, so that the cell trapped nothing but the air.

“Gaya, please come back to your senses!” Nikaido kept moving knowing that it would be hard to trap him like this, but Fujigaya got up approaching him without reacting at all.

“I’m sorry, I hope you know that!” Nikaido said apologizing before he attacked Fujigaya as he tried to trap him again. Using Fujigaya’s powers which were flowing through his body, he used a wind gust and lifted Fujigaya off his feet and through the window.


	47. back on track

As Nikaido rushed out of the door hoping that he didn’t hurt Fujigaya too much he stopped abruptly as Kame and Kawai stood right in front of him, looking at him with a scolding glare. As he looked past them, he saw how Massu and Tegoshi had already gotten a grip on Fujigaya holding him down and forcing his arms on his back so that he couldn’t form another cell.

“Next time you want to try something like this how about you tell us first? You thought we wouldn’t sense it?” Kawai asked in an angry tone. But instead of feeling guilty Nikaido got even more pissed on his statement punching him without hesitation so that he landed on the ground.

“Nikaido, stop it! Kawai is right, you should have told us!” Kame stepped between them, but Nikaido still had more than enough of Fujigaya’s powers in him to be able to at least pass Kame and attack Kawai if he wanted to.

“You dare to tell me something like that after he set up this trap for us in the first place and you just played along?” Nikaido hissed at Kame before looking towards Kawai. “We handled all of our problems perfectly without you before! Since you showed up our life turned upside down. So no we won’t tell you, we will solve this ourselves, as we always did!”

Nikaido wasn’t even sure why he got that angry suddenly. Even Fujigaya had told him to get Kawai for help, but he didn’t want his help. Maybe he was just disappointed that he couldn’t handle this by himself, but whatever it was for now he let the topic drop. Fujigaya was way more important than his anger about Kawai’s scolding.

“Nikaido, what are you doing?” Kame tried to hold him back as he moved over to Fujigaya who was screaming at Tegoshi and Massu to let him go, but Nikaido shook his hand off.

“I know what I’m doing, so leave me alone!” Nikaido wondered where his self-confidence came from, but he knew that there could be a simple solution to stop the crytalile from taking over and as sooner he would try if his theory was right, as faster Fujigaya would turn back to normal.

“Lift him up!” Nikaido told Tegoshi and Massu which turned towards Kame and Kawai first, but as they nodded at them they did as he said. They had much trouble to stop Fujigaya from attacking wild around him and they knew that if he would get his arms free he would definitely be able to kill them.

“Nikaido would you please tell us what you’re doing, just in case we have to interfere?” Kame asked carefully as Nikaido stepped in front of Fujigaya.

“It’s easy. He said that the crytalile would try to fill the empty space of his normal powers and that his normal powers would need some time to regenerate. So eventually he would turn back to normal, as he did before after sleeping and regenerating. But I’m going to speed up the process by giving him back the rest of his powers, which I have left.”

His explanation made sense to everyone and they hoped that it would really work. Nikaido put his hands to Fujigaya’s neck who tried to get out of their grip even more on his touch.

“I can’t transfer them over his skin, the crytalile is blocking the transfer.” Nikaido announced after a moment.

“Then do it as you always do it!” Kawai said kind of annoyed obviously angry about the punch he got earlier, but he shut up as Kame gave him a side glare.

Nikaido looked at Tegoshi and Massu, which tried hard to hide their smiles, but failed.

“You know that you don’t make it easier like that, right?” Nikaido scolded them, but he knew that it wasn’t the time to feel embarrassed. “Just make sure that he can’t struggle too much!”

Tegoshi and Massu tightened their grip on him the same moment Nikaido grabbed Fujigaya by the hair with one hand and his chin with the other one making sure that he couldn’t move away as he kissed him. Fujigaya struggled a lot and even though Nikaido knew that he hurt him he wouldn’t loosen his grip. But then Fujigaya’s struggling changed and he finally dared to back off.

“Are you trying to suffocate me?” Fujigaya asked, breathing in deep as Nikaido had stepped back.

“Fujigaya?” Tegoshi asked carefully still holding on to him.

“What?” Fujigaya asked angry as he tried to turn around, but couldn’t because Massu and Tegoshi were still holding on to him. “What happened? Oh come on would you let go of me? Whatever happened, you can see that I’m back to normal.”

“I would say he is alright, at least I hope so.” Nikaido said finally.

“You hope so? Great so you want to tell me you can’t tell the difference between my normal self and my freaking out crytalile self? Now I’m disappointed.”

“You are still shouting at us you know? I’m not sure if you are already completely back to normal.”

“Nika, I will do more than just shout at you if you don’t make them let go of me!” Fujigaya shouted at him.

“Don’t make me responsible for this!”

“But you are, do something!”

“You are unbelievable!”

Suddenly Tegoshi and Massu let go of him so that he turned around to them in surprise.

“I think we can leave you alone then.” Massu announced, gaining a nod from Tegoshi and even Kame and Kawai were about to just leave.

“Wait, what is going on? Just like this?” Fujigaya asked even more confused than before.

“Oh you know, there are two things which made it clear that you are back.” Tegoshi explained. “First, you called Nikaido, Nika and-“

“And?” Nikaido asked as confused as his partner.

“And you fight like two furious housewives again!” Kame ended the sentence for Tegoshi. “Take a rest for today, we will try to figure out more about all this tomorrow!”

As everyone just left them without another word Nikaido and Fujigaya looked at each other with the same confused look making both of them smile after a moment.

“I guess Kawai was right, it was a stupid idea to try this out alone!”

“Wait, what? He said that? How dare he even interfere after he set up all this in the first place?”

“Calm down, Gaya. Trust me I had this conversation with him earlier. Or more like my fist had that conversation.”

“Oh, now I would have liked to see that!”

“You have, more or less.”

“Yeah, next time I would just like to remember it!”

“Then we should finally try to find a way to transfer your powers without turning you into a mindless monster.” Nikaido said teasing, but he saw how Fujigaya’s eyes darkened.

“Did I hurt you again?” He asked guilty.

“You tried, but this time the others were faster.” Nikaido stepped forward lifting Fujigaya’s head up so that he had to face him. “Don’t worry about it too much, okay? At least we found a way to turn you back and if we train it a little bit, it should be possible to control it. As long as you transfer just a little bit of your powers it will be okay.”

“I hope you are right. But what if-“

“No what if questions anymore for today, okay?”

“Then I guess you have to distract me from thinking about it too much.” Fujigaya replied teasingly, pulling Nikaido closer on his collar.

“No problem at all.” Nikaido replied, his lips already in front of Fujigaya’s waiting for the latter to close the remaining distance. At least their powers would rest for the day, for their bodies they couldn’t say the same though.

***

“How are you feeling?” Taiga asked Aran after he had gathered with all of the younger ones at Aran’s house.

“Alright, I guess. At least as alright as I can feel right now.”

They were sitting on the ground in front of the fire place now that the nights were getting colder again. All of them had decided to fight against the city, even though fear was visible on all their faces.

“Aran, are you sure it is a good idea to come with us?” Hokuto asked suddenly breaking the silence.

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“You know as a human it is really dangerous and-“

“Hokuto cut the crap out, Taiga is also a human and he is fighting.”

“Hey, don’t drag me into this! I have good reasons to fight this battle.”

“So have I or do you really think I will wait until they attack again and take another friend of mine away?” Aran’s words made everyone fell silent again for a moment. Kentaro wasn’t really spending so much attention to them in the first place trying to sense Ueda all the time, even though he knew that he was way too far away to sense him.

“We all lost so many friends in this war already, I don’t want to stand around and wait for it to happen again either.” Kento said in a low voice hugging his knees. He was lost in his thoughts for a moment until he got a slap on the back of his head from Hokuto.

“What was that for?”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe you take a look outside and tell me yourself?”

Kento didn’t understand for a moment until he looked out the window and saw the rain.

“Oh, sorry. It was such nice weather today, sorry that I ruined it.”

To everyone’s surprise Aran was the one who let out the loudest laughter on that pushing Kento lightly to the side on his shoulder. “If the weather forecast is your only problem I would like to change places with you!”

“But then you have to take care of Fuma’s powers and trust me when I tell you that they can be more annoying than he was in person.” Kento teased him with a bright smile.

“I would deny.” Hokuto interfered laughing.

“Same!” Taiga added.

“Hey he wasn’t that bad!” Kento tried to defend Fuma, but of course he knew that they were just trying to brighten up the mood for Aran’s sake as well.

“Kentaro would you stop?” Hokuto asked him suddenly so that he finally looked up at all of them.

“What did I do?”

“You are spreading a dark mood!”

“I didn’t say anything!” Kentaro tried to defend himself, but as he realized that Aran was obviously worrying for him as well he understood what he meant. Both of them could of course feel how worried he was about Ueda.

“Sorry I didn’t want to ruin the mood.” He said apologizing.

“He will be alright! We have to trust them and hope that this time everything works out without any kind of interference.” Taiga said comforting knowing of course that it wouldn’t calm Kentaro down completely, but he wanted to believe that for once luck was on their side and they would return without any problems.

Kento had lost Fuma, Hokuto was still not over Ryosuke’s betrayal and for Aran Myuto’s death had been already hard enough and Kishi’s death was still too real to shut it out completely, but they knew that they had to stay strong and concentrate on the fight that was waiting for them.

Even if they wouldn’t be able to bring back the friends they lost they would fight for a brighter and hopefully safer future.


	48. Preparations

 

Kentaro ignored all the eyes on him as he dashed forward the moment Ueda and the others stepped out of the forest on the northern border. The two days had passed quite fast and Nikaido had had a lot of problems to stop his brother from already running towards them the moment he had sensed their powers. But now there was no reason to hold him back anymore and he looked after Kentaro with a smile as he jumped around Ueda’s neck.

“Uhh~, Ueda. Did you forget to tell us something?” One of the people following him, Totsu and Tsukada asked with a teasing smile, but Kentaro couldn’t care less and he was happy that Ueda didn’t seem to mind either.

“Kamiyama, how about you mind your own business for once?”

“Sorry, that is too boring.” The boy said smiling, looking from Ueda to Kentaro. “Be careful, if you piss him off he will turn your training into hell.”

“No, I just turn your training into hell!”

“Why just mine? I’m a really nice pupil!”

On that the others which were standing around them started giggling making Kamiyama glare at them.

“Ueda, are there not more coming?” Kentaro asked worried as he realized that there were just 4 people.

“There are, but let us first gather with everyone. I will explain it then!”

\---

“Wait you got to the north to get those kids? That’s all?” Fujigaya let out a little bit disappointed as they had all gathered in the city hall.

“Gaya, you should know the best to not judge them by age!” Nikaido scolded him immediately.

“Oh so you are the chaotic duo which Totsu had told us about!?” Kamiyama said laughing pointing from one to the other, resting his eyes on Fujigaya for a moment with a bright smile.

“What?” Fujigaya growled.

“Your power control really sucks, at least that is true.” The boy announces in such a happy voice that even Nikaido got angry for a moment. But he stopped Fujigaya, grabbing his arm as he wanted to move towards the boy obviously about to freak out at him even though he was just telling the truth.

The next to interfere was Ueda who grabbed Kamiyama by the ear and dragged him away from them, ignoring his apologizing shouting.

Kentaro had to smile at them, because even though it seemed like they wouldn’t get along at first sight, Kentaro could tell that they were a good team and even though Kamiyama had a big mouth he was definitely respecting Ueda as his trainer.

“Okay let’s make the introduction as short as possible. We have more important things to discuss.” Kame interfered as Ueda had pushed Kamiyama back to the other boys.

“So our troublemaker here is Kamiyama!” The boy glared at him, but he knew better than to interrupt Kame. “He is really good with fire attacks and his powers are really long lasting, almost as long as Ueda’s.”

At least now Kentaro understood why Ueda was his trainer and not one of the others.

“This is Daiki, he is my student!” Kame said tapping the boy next to him on the shoulder, which bowed lightly and smiled at everyone.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Yes definitely Kame’s pupil!” Senga said smiling, looking from them to Tegoshi, but then his eyes stopped on Kawai. “I wonder how you got to be his pupil, you are the only one falling out the pattern.”

“I know, but not everyone can be as sympathetic and skilled as me!” Kawai announced so convinced of himself that Nakamaru and Massu hit him on the back of his head at the same time.

“Here you see how teacher and student work together!” Kame said giggling, pointing at Nakamaru and Massu. “I wonder myself how I ended up with you!”

“Oh now I feel really motivated, you know!” Kawai crossed his arms, turning away playing angry, but Kame just rolled his eyes at him.

“Anyways, Daiki is quite skilled with wind techniques and his speed can safe your ass out there!” Daiki blushed a little bit on Kame’s praising, but Kentaro could feel that he was telling the truth. The boy seemed quite good in focusing his powers and using them fast and on the spot.

“The other two are Inoo and Yugo!” Both boys stepped forward on Kame’s words and Totsu was walking over to them as well, speaking next.

“Goseki and those two were the pupils of Junno, but Goseki took over Yugo’s training after a while because he is really skilled with tactical strategies and will help with the invading plan!” Both boys looked a little bit pale after Junno’s and Goseki’s names had been said. They had just heard about their deaths two days ago as Ueda and the others had picked them up and they didn’t seem to be able to deal with it that fast. “Inoo is good in sensing powers, okay who am I kidding, he is amazing! He can feel powers over even longer distances than Junno could. But because he is also really good in sensing the emotions of people I would like to ask you to try not to let your emotions run wild when he is around, it is kind of difficult for him to shut his powers down.”

The boy shifted nervously as longer Totsu spoke and then he looked up and of course his eyes fell on Fujigaya and Nikaido and even though he looked away right away everyone else’s eyes moved to the two as well.

“What did we do?” Fujigaya asked confused, getting a hit from Nikaido with his elbow.

“idiot, if you’ve listened you should know what we did or more what we are doing the whole time!”

“What are you-, oh! Sorry…” As Fujigaya finally realized that the emotional chaos he and Nikaido were stuck in was obviously startling the boy he lowered his voice looking to the ground kind of embarrassed.

“As long as we don’t give Inoo a house next to Nikaido’s or Fujigaya’s it will be fine.” Wataru said teasingly, looking at Fujigaya with a wide smile.

“Oh come on, are you now also taking their side?” Fujigaya growled at him, but Wataru slapped him on the shoulder comforting and shook his head.

“It’s just the truth, deal with it!”

“Okay are you done with your teasing, we still have to discuss the details about the invasion plan!” Nakamaru interfered, making them finally spend attention again. “Everyone who is present here at the moment will be part of the first invasion!”

“First?” Taiga asked looking as confused as most of the others.

“As you see we just brought 4 people with us, but there are about two dozen more up in the north!” Ueda explained. “They will follow us in a safe distance and when our plan works out and the first invasion succeeds they will come as our backup for the second invasion.”

Ueda paused for a moment, looking at Kentaro whose eyes showed the same question as everyone else’s.

“When we fail, they will return to the north waiting for another chance. If we will come back. But let’s not think about that possibility too much.”

“Okay so for now we will form 6 troops! We want you to train in those troops for today and tomorrow and after that we will start moving!” Kame continued. “We will get into the details of the plan by tomorrow evening, it is more important that you learn how to fight with your new teammates.”

“Why do we have to split up?” Kento asked worried, knowing that it would be more dangerous for all of them.

“At first we will all attack together, but inside the city we have to split up to increase the chances to reach our goal!”

“Which would be?”

“The research tower in which Nikaido and Taisuke were captured before.” Wataru answered instead of Kame. “As we invaded it before we realized that it was something like the main base for the Realitists. As you might now, especially the ones of you which lived in the city before not all of the people down there are Realitists and we want to prevent to hurt innocent people.”

“Our teams will try to get rid of the guards and then destroy the tower. All their new technologies, especially their crytalile research is based in there, with all that gone our second invasion can succeed. We have to cut off the electricity fences and eliminate as many of the guards as possible.” Kame tried to avoid saying “to kill” them, but even Wataru knew that there was no other way anymore. Mercy would cost them even more of their friends in the future.

“Okay so those are the teams.” Kame started, grabbing some papers from the table and pinning one after the other to the wall.

“Team 1: Wataru, Inoo, Kentaro, Ueda!”

Ueda gave Kentaro a weird look. The boy couldn’t really say if it should tell him that he was happy about being in the same team with him or worried. But he had decided the teams together with Kame, Nakamaru, Wataru, Tegoshi and Massu, so he was sure that they teamed them up on purpose. Even though Kentaro wasn’t sure if it was really such a good idea, he couldn’t say for sure that he could make clear decisions if Ueda got hurt or worse, and maybe it was the same for Ueda.

“Team 2:Taiga, Kento, Kamiyama and I.” Kame announced and silence followed.

“You have any objections?” Kame asked and Fujigaya needed a moment to realize that he addressed him.

“No- I guess it’s fine.” Fujigaya looked over at Kento and then at Kamiyama. He knew it was unfair to be worried that Kento could do something stupid with his powers when he wouldn’t watch out especially when Fujigaya himself was in such a bad control of his own powers, but he would leave his little brother in his care. And for Kamiyama, he didn’t know him, so naturally he couldn’t trust him like this.

“Taisuke it will be all right!” Taiga said comforting, tugging on his brother’s sleeve on which Fujigaya put his hand over his before turning towards Kame.

“If you say it’s a good team I will trust you! I will leave my little brother in your care!” Fujigaya’s tone was serious and Kame gave him a nod, knowing that Fujigaya wouldn’t forgive him if he wouldn’t protect him.

“Team 3: Daiki, Aran, Massu, Tegoshi!”

Tegoshi ruffled through Aran’s hair and it was obvious that the boy was happy that he had them in his team and Daiki also seemed like a really reliable comrade.

“Team 4: Totsu, Kawai, Hasshi, Nakamaru!”

„Just so you know, I was against this!“ Nakamaru said towards Kawai, who raised an eyebrow at him questioning. “Did you forget that your punishment is still outstanding?”

“Oh shit!” Kawai had obviously really forgotten about it, looking at an evil smiling Kame.

“What punishment?” Kamiyama asked Ueda with a way too interested look.

“Long story, later!” His teacher told him with a lopsided smile.

“You wouldn’t do that when we are in such a dangerous place!”

“You want to bet?”

A cold shiver went down Kawai’s spine on Kame’s serious tone and knowing that Kame was in another team he wasn’t sure if he could concentrate on the mission anymore.

“So back to the main topic! Team 5: Senga, Tsukada, Hokuto, Yugo!”

“No, never! I object!” Senga stepped forward, pointing out at Tsukada. “I don’t want to be in one team with him!”

“Are you sure?” Kame asked with a risen eyebrow.

“Yes, more than sure!”

“You know there is just one team left and you are lucky it is 3 members, so there is one free place. But think carefully if you really want to join that team instead!”

Senga looked at him confused before he realized which the only ones left were.

“Okay forget it, Tsukada is completely fine!”

“Wow, what a fast change of mind. Those two must really be something special!” Kamiyama giggled as Senga stepped back, pretending as if he hadn’t said anything in the first place.

“Wait, what is so bad about being in a team with me and Nikaido?” Fujigaya shouted at Senga before he realized what Kame had said. “Wait 3 people? Who else- Oh no!”

Fujigaya’s look fell on Yuma right away and even Nikaido growled, burying his face in his hands as he realized that they had to form a team.

“Kame, what the hell? Why him?”

“Because we decided the teams by strength and ability and he will match with you two the best!”

“Yeah until I freak again and kill him by accident!”

“You know that it doesn’t matter who it is, you hurt Nikaido as well before!” Kame’s words were harsh, but necessary. Fujigaya knew that he shouldn’t act that unforgiving toward Yuma, but he was still angry at him and Kawai for all the mess that happened to him and Nikaido.

“Okay, whatever! Then let’s get over with this training!” Fujigaya grabbed Nikaido’s wrist and went towards the door, but stopped before he left the city hall. “Are you coming?”

He turned towards Yuma waiting for him to follow them. The boy blinked at him confused before he nodded, catching up to them as they left the room.

“I guess he finally understood how serious our situation is!” Kawai said as they had left the room.

“He knew that from the beginning, but now he realized that if he doesn’t concentrate and puts his pride aside, the people around him will be the ones which get hurt!” Wataru explained, looking after him with a smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HIATUS NOTICE!
> 
> Thank you all for following this story for such a long time!  
> All the chapters I've posted so far were written years ago already.  
> By now my writing style and also the pairings I like to write changed a lot, still I want to finish this story at some point!  
> I can't promise how fast I will be able to write new chapters and how many more chapters the story will have eventually, but for a while I guess I've to put it on hiatus, but chapter updates could follow randomly from now on.  
> Sorry for not being able to finish it immediately, I hope I can bring this story to an end soon^^y


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